by Margarita Montimore ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2022
A story of the lifetime bonds of sisterhood that also touches on the paranormal subtext inherent in magic acts.
A winding tale of two sisters pulled together and pushed apart by fame, magic, and the cult of celebrity.
After a yearslong hiatus from performing following a disastrous Las Vegas show, Violet Volk—magician, self-help author, motivational speaker, and celebrity—stages a comeback in her hometown of Willow Glen, New Jersey. But during the big disappearing-act finale, the Flaming Angel, she fails to reappear as expected. Slowly, the audience and security come to realize that Violet is well and truly gone. Ten years later, her fans—the Wolf Pack—have remained obsessed with her disappearance, and the annual candlelight vigil at the location of her last show will be a huge event to mark the anniversary. Her sister, Sasha Dwyer, is still angry at Violet in the way that only sisters can be: for slights perceived and real, for actions that hurt her and those she loves. Sasha’s husband, Gabriel, has spent decades trying to protect her from the worst of Violet’s egoism. Their daughter, Quinn, is nearing college graduation and trying to figure out her future, her past, and what it means to be Violet Volk’s niece. A podcast about Violet’s life and disappearance is being taped, and host Cameron Frank is pulling out all the stops to try to get Sasha to appear. Author Montimore has written a layered story told in fragments of documents, emails, podcast transcripts, and narrated segments that jump through time, place, and voice. It’s a whirlwind of information and characters, much like a magic show with smoke, mirrors, and misdirection consuming the viewer’s attention before the final big reveal: Is Violet alive or dead? And if she is alive, where has she been for 10 years?
A story of the lifetime bonds of sisterhood that also touches on the paranormal subtext inherent in magic acts.Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81506-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
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New York Times Bestseller
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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SEEN & HEARD
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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