by Marilyn M. Fisher ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2014
A compelling story of healing, both human and animal.
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From Fisher (He Trots The Air, 2011, etc.), a humble and harrowing novel about horse abuse.
Fisher’s latest novel follows an ensemble cast employed at the McCutcheon Equine Insurance Agency in rural Virginia. The insurance agency, owned by Cary McCutcheon and his wife, Pam, investigates and prosecutes those who commit crimes against horses. Soon into the novel, readers meet Tim Lomax, an Army veteran who has recently returned from Afghanistan to his home in Virginia. Lomax is having trouble adjusting to civilian life, which his paralyzing symptoms of PTSD make worse. McCutcheon decides to give Lomax a chance, hiring him to work on his ranch. Not long after Lomax starts working for McCutcheon, a colt shows up on the outskirts of the ranch. The colt shows clear signs of soring, a form of torture inflicted upon horses to give them the recognized Tennessee Walking Horse gait. While rehabbing the colt, McCutcheon and his crew begin to investigate the people who perpetrated the crime, welcoming Lomax to the case. Fisher’s brief novel takes a stand against animal cruelty and horse abuse without being heavy-handed or dry. Her characters speak for themselves, allowing the message to naturally come across in their words. Lomax’s PTSD and the emotional demons that torment the abused colt are subtly complementary, illustrating how horses and humans can heal one another. Readers might wish for more time with Fisher’s down-to-earth, inspiring characters and to learn more about their healing work. If there’s one fault with Fisher’s novel, it’s that it could be a bit more accessible for readers approaching it with little to no knowledge about the equestrian world. Secondary characters are introduced along with their titles, but it might be unclear to some readers what exactly their functions are within a horse agency (or even what a horse agency is). Still, Fisher’s moving tale doesn’t flood the reader with overly technical language, and readers will be easily immersed.
A compelling story of healing, both human and animal.Pub Date: April 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494959777
Page Count: 146
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2015
A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be...
Box takes another break from his highly successful Joe Pickett series (Stone Cold, 2014, etc.) for a stand-alone about a police detective, a developmentally delayed boy, and a package everyone in North Dakota wants to grab.
Cassandra Dewell can’t leave Montana’s Lewis and Clark County fast enough for her new job as chief investigator for Jon Kirkbride, sheriff of Bakken County. She leaves behind no memories worth keeping: her husband is dead, her boss has made no bones about disliking her, and she’s looking forward to new responsibilities and the higher salary underwritten by North Dakota’s sudden oil boom. But Bakken County has its own issues. For one thing, it’s cold—a whole lot colder than the coldest weather Cassie’s ever imagined. For another, the job she turns out to have been hired for—leading an investigation her new boss doesn’t feel he can entrust to his own force—makes her queasy. The biggest problem, though, is one she doesn’t know about until it slaps her in the face. A fatal car accident that was anything but accidental has jarred loose a stash of methamphetamines and cash that’s become the center of a battle between the Sons of Freedom, Bakken County’s traditional drug sellers, and MS-13, the Salvadorian upstarts who are muscling in on their territory. It’s a setup that leaves scant room for law enforcement officers or for Kyle Westergaard, the 12-year-old paperboy damaged since birth by fetal alcohol syndrome, who’s walked away from the wreck with a prize all too many people would kill for.
A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.Pub Date: July 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-58321-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
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