Lee’s charm and tenacity can conquer any obstacle, even an unsteady premise.
Former CIA analyst Lee Carruthers returns in Larew’s (The Spider Catchers, 2013) thriller, this time searching for a murderer in Dubai and stepping into the middle of a war between arms dealers.
Lee knows it was her former employers who sent Cynthia Branson to her door. Cynthia wants to know where her two-years-absent husband, George, is so she can serve him with divorce papers. George was killed in Dubai, but the CIA is reluctant to tell Cynthia, because it doesn’t know why; Lee, hired by Cynthia, is determined to do the detective work herself. But she finds more than a simple murder: George, who had been using false identities in both Dubai and Istanbul, had more than one stash of uncut diamonds. Furthermore, Felix Gringikov, a Belarusian arms dealer for whom George had worked, has been missing for a couple of years. Lee suspects Felix’s Russian rival, Sergei Malyakov, of the murder, but that doesn’t explain who’s following her. The author’s appealing protagonist makes a welcome second appearance in a story that’s stronger and more riveting than her previous outing. The plot isn’t without its snags: it’s never clear why Lee simply doesn’t tell Cynthia that George is dead or why she stays on the case after her client’s death, which even Lee eventually questions. Most readers, however, will likely forgive such flaws because the story packs on suspense when Lee consistently spots her on a multi-country journey, from the warm Dubai winter to cold, snowy Istanbul. Supporting characters are outstanding, especially Lee’s seemingly endless contacts, including stockbroker Willy Soo and her quasi-partner, Fred Atkins, an ex-Marine whom Lee affectionately (or not) refers to as the Marlboro Man. The fact that Lee is still a standout among all the characters is a testament to her aptitude: she’s comfortable around computers, with a Glock in her hand, or, if the situation calls for it, in a show of fisticuffs. Larew’s narrative is so incisive that Lee’s frequent updates on the case—internally or to characters in the vicinity—really aren’t necessary. Readers will probably guess one plot twist, but another twist or two aren’t as easy to predict.
Lee’s charm and tenacity can conquer any obstacle, even an unsteady premise.Pub Date: April 30, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 243
Publisher: Artemis Hunter Press
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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