The Retimer is at his best in the field, and genre fans will gladly follow the spy who leaves behind nothing but bullet...
Angliss’ (Mrs America: Gunluv, 2014, etc.) latest thriller in the Retimer series finds recurring Aussie intelligence agent Luthan Fennes searching for his brother, who doesn’t seem to have returned from his space tour.
Luthan doesn’t understand brother Reginald Dolsen’s shelling out his life’s savings to join a tour of the International Space Station. But Luthan, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation operative better known as the Retimer, is understandably concerned when the tourists aren’t there to greet loved ones upon their return to Earth. CIA agents tell Luthan that Dolsen has been kidnapped, but later, after Luthan ignores the agency’s warnings to stop looking for his brother, they admit that Dolsen is still in space. He’s been infected with a virus called Sifersin and effectively quarantined in the ISS. Sifersin may have made its way to Earth, courtesy of Dr. Leroy Lloyd-Jones, who, along with his brother Arthur, was a passenger on the latest tour. Luthan heads to London to find the scientist and a possible link to terrorists, hopefully saving Dolsen in the process. In spite of its sci-fi premise, Angliss’ novel stays true to the series and keeps its hero’s feet firmly on the ground for most of the story. Readers who’ve read any of the previous books will recognize some recurring themes: bomb-loving terrorists; car chases and sequences riddled with bullets; and the Retimer’s willingness to kill, including CIA agents—but only if they try to kill him first. Even a tennis match between Luthan and Leroy plays out like an action scene before being interrupted by an assassination attempt. At one point, Luthan mocks James Bond, citing the Retimer’s employment of “genuine, not cinematic, spy tradecraft” (this is soon after he’s used a jet pack to escape). The 007 inspiration is unmistakable, and Luthan, under an alias, can’t resist introducing himself as “Bach. James Bach.” There are some affecting moments early on with Luthan’s wife, Valerie, and their three children. Suspecting perpetually absent Luthan of infidelity, she even does something unheard of so that cops will find her hubby for her—a potentially interesting subplot that’s unfortunately dropped and never picked back up.
The Retimer is at his best in the field, and genre fans will gladly follow the spy who leaves behind nothing but bullet holes.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1500507855
Page Count: 262
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally...
Yale’s secret societies hide a supernatural secret in this fantasy/murder mystery/school story.
Most Yale students get admitted through some combination of impressive academics, athletics, extracurriculars, family connections, and donations, or perhaps bribing the right coach. Not Galaxy “Alex” Stern. The protagonist of Bardugo’s (King of Scars, 2019, etc.) first novel for adults, a high school dropout and low-level drug dealer, Alex got in because she can see dead people. A Yale dean who's a member of Lethe, one of the college’s famously mysterious secret societies, offers Alex a free ride if she will use her spook-spotting abilities to help Lethe with its mission: overseeing the other secret societies’ occult rituals. In Bardugo’s universe, the “Ancient Eight” secret societies (Lethe is the eponymous Ninth House) are not just old boys’ breeding grounds for the CIA, CEOs, Supreme Court justices, and so on, as they are in ours; they’re wielders of actual magic. Skull and Bones performs prognostications by borrowing patients from the local hospital, cutting them open, and examining their entrails. St. Elmo’s specializes in weather magic, useful for commodities traders; Aurelian, in unbreakable contracts; Manuscript goes in for glamours, or “illusions and lies,” helpful to politicians and movie stars alike. And all these rituals attract ghosts. It’s Alex’s job to keep the supernatural forces from embarrassing the magical elite by releasing chaos into the community (all while trying desperately to keep her grades up). “Dealing with ghosts was like riding the subway: Do not make eye contact. Do not smile. Do not engage. Otherwise, you never know what might follow you home.” A townie’s murder sets in motion a taut plot full of drug deals, drunken assaults, corruption, and cover-ups. Loyalties stretch and snap. Under it all runs the deep, dark river of ambition and anxiety that at once powers and undermines the Yale experience. Alex may have more reason than most to feel like an imposter, but anyone who’s spent time around the golden children of the Ivy League will likely recognize her self-doubt.
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally dazzling sequels.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31307-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Falls short of Crichton’s many blockbusters, but fun reading nonetheless, especially for those interested in the early days...
In 1876, professor Edward Cope takes a group of students to the unforgiving American West to hunt for dinosaur fossils, and they make a tremendous discovery.
William Jason Tertullius Johnson, son of a shipbuilder and beneficiary of his father’s largess, isn’t doing very well at Yale when he makes a bet with his archrival (because every young man has one): accompany “the bone professor” Othniel Marsh to the West to dig for dinosaur fossils or pony up $1,000, but Marsh will only let Johnson join if he has a skill they can use. They need a photographer, so Johnson throws himself into the grueling task of learning photography, eventually becoming proficient. When Marsh and the team leave without him, he hitches a ride with another celebrated paleontologist, Marsh’s bitter rival, Edward Cope. Despite warnings about Indian activity, into the Judith badlands they go. It’s a harrowing trip: they weather everything from stampeding buffalo to back-breaking work, but it proves to be worth it after they discover the teeth of what looks to be a giant dinosaur, and it could be the discovery of the century if they can only get them back home safely. When the team gets separated while transporting the bones, Johnson finds himself in Deadwood and must find a way to get the bones home—and stay alive doing it. The manuscript for this novel was discovered in Crichton’s (Pirate Latitudes, 2009, etc.) archives by his wife, Sherri, and predates Jurassic Park (1990), but if readers are looking for the same experience, they may be disappointed: it’s strictly formulaic stuff. Famous folk like the Earp brothers make appearances, and Cope and Marsh, and the feud between them, were very real, although Johnson is the author’s own creation. Crichton takes a sympathetic view of American Indians and their plight, and his appreciation of the American West, and its harsh beauty, is obvious.
Falls short of Crichton’s many blockbusters, but fun reading nonetheless, especially for those interested in the early days of American paleontology.Pub Date: May 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-247335-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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