A well-built mystery that’s stronger than its flaws.
Sex, murder and a runaway case of psychic ability combine to complicate the life of a hapless photographer in Scott’s debut entry of a planned mystery series.
Shifting between multiple viewpoints and timelines, the narrative’s main thrust follows Phoenix photographer Lance Underphal, a 57-year-old man barely eking out a living taking crime scene photos for a local newspaper. A former electrical contractor, Underphal is still reeling from hard times that left him broke, a widower and, worst of all, haunted by his wife’s voice. As he struggles to make sense of the clairvoyant flashes that leave him increasingly haggard and unable to function, his reporter boss, Lacey Friends, is growing close to homicide detective Frank Salmon. Despite poor first impressions, Underphal is soon providing information to Salmon, who uses it to make headway in his investigation of a developer’s violent murder. However, the violence spreads, and not even Underphal’s ability to see the dead can keep up with the spiraling darkness that surrounds the first—but nowhere near the last—killing. As promised in the novel’s disclaimer, there’s copious sex and violence throughout the book, but Scott treats it as part of the story, for the most part avoiding gratuitous mentions to concentrate on advancing the plot. The numerous shifts in time and perspective can be disconcerting at first; however, readers familiar with nonlinear storylines will have no trouble, especially after the first few chapters, when the narrative develops a rhythm that helps anchor the reader. Scott handles the primary character voices with confidence, and he uses the Phoenix geography to good effect in establishing the tone and setting. But not all aspects of the book work as well: The female characters are almost invariably thin in description, virtually all of them described in terms of sexual attractiveness, which doesn’t help develop them as people. Furthermore, much of the dialogue and physical descriptions go on for several beats longer than necessary, seemingly undermining the author’s trust in the readers to understand what he’s saying. Overall, however, Scott crafts an intriguing hook and a sympathetic protagonist in a world that, while seemingly depraved and dark, is clearly recognizable and believable.
A well-built mystery that’s stronger than its flaws.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1938701955
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.
A novel tells the story of two spirited girls who set out to save a lame foal in 1952.
Mary, age 12, lacks muscle control of her legs and must use a wheelchair. Her life is constantly interrupted by trips with her widower father to assorted doctors, all of whom have failed to help her. Mary tolerates the treatments, hoping to one day walk unassisted, but her true passion involves horses. Possessing a library filled with horse books, she loves watching and drawing the animals at a neighboring farm. She longs to own one herself. But her father, overprotective due to her disability and his own lingering grief over Mary’s dead mother, makes her keep her distance. Mary befriends Laura, the emotionally neglected daughter of the wealthy neighboring farm owners, and the two share secret buggy rides. Both girls are attracted to Illusion, a beautiful red bay filly on the farm. Mary learns that Illusion is to be put down by a veterinarian because of a lame leg. Horrified, she decides to talk to the barn manager about the horse (“Isn’t it okay for her to live even if she’s not perfect? I think she deserves a chance”). Soon, Mary and Laura attempt to raise money to save Illusion. At the same time, Mary begins to gain control of her legs thanks to water therapy and secret therapeutic riding with Laura. There is indeed a great deal of poignancy in a story of a girl with a disability fighting to defend the intrinsic value of a lame animal. But this book, the first installment of the Dream Horse Adventure Series, would be twice as touching if Mary interacted with Illusion more. In the tale’s opening, she watches the foal from afar, but she actually spends very little time with the filly she tries so hard to protect. This turns out to be a strange development given the degree to which the narrative relies on her devotion. Count (Selah’s Sweet Dream, 2015) draws Mary and Laura in broad but believable strokes, defined mainly by their unrelenting pluckiness in the face of adversity. While the work tackles disability, death, and grief, Mary’s and Laura’s environments are so idyllic and their optimism and perseverance so remarkable that the story retains an aura of uncomplicated gentleness throughout.
A short, simple, and sweet tale about two friends and a horse.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Hastings Creations Group
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
