In Burns’ (Police State, 2013, etc.) latest thriller, an American archaeologist discovers the Ark of the Covenant on Jordanian soil and the Middle East explodes into war.
David Graham is leading a Vatican-sponsored dig in Jordan when he’s led by what may be the voice of God to the Ark, hidden in a long-sealed cave. His cell phone call announcing his find is intercepted by U.S. intelligence, and passed on to Israel by a mole, Patricia Rifkin. At the same time, a cabal of right-wing Israelis blows up the Temple Mount, including the mosque on it, setting off an intifada. Israel then sends a commando team, led by Captain Jedi Holtz, over the border to snatch the relic, wiping out the Jordanian battalion guarding the archeological team and taking Graham and his seven students into protective custody. From here, the political situation cascades out of control, with Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iran all attacking Israel and threatening to destroy the Ark as it’s being transported to Jerusalem. Burns delivers a fast-paced thriller with lots of precisely described military action. However, the first third of the book introduces so many characters that readers may find it hard to keep track of who’s important. Graham, Rifkin and Holtz eventually become the focus, but with so many secondary players, and so many different locations (the dig, various army bases, the American Embassy, Russia, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem), none of them has a chance to grab readers’ hearts. When Graham concludes that the war was just waiting to happen, whether he found the Ark or not, the whole biblical underpinning of the story crumbles away. The nuclear bombing of a major country may also be a little hard to swallow; it may end the war, but the book ignores the ecological repercussions.
An uneven military thriller that moves so fast that readers may not notice its plot holes.Pub Date: July 30, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 406
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
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Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Categories: GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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SEEN & HEARD
Named for an imperfectly worded fortune cookie, Hoover's (It Ends with Us, 2016, etc.) latest compares a woman’s relationship with her husband before and after she finds out she’s infertile.
Quinn meets her future husband, Graham, in front of her soon-to-be-ex-fiance’s apartment, where Graham is about to confront him for having an affair with his girlfriend. A few years later, they are happily married but struggling to conceive. The “then and now” format—with alternating chapters moving back and forth in time—allows a hopeful romance to blossom within a dark but relatable dilemma. Back then, Quinn’s bad breakup leads her to the love of her life. In the now, she’s exhausted a laundry list of fertility options, from IVF treatments to adoption, and the silver lining is harder to find. Quinn’s bad relationship with her wealthy mother also prevents her from asking for more money to throw at the problem. But just when Quinn’s narrative starts to sound like she’s writing a long Facebook rant about her struggles, she reveals the larger issue: Ever since she and Graham have been trying to have a baby, intimacy has become a chore, and she doesn’t know how to tell him. Instead, she hopes the contents of a mystery box she’s kept since their wedding day will help her decide their fate. With a few well-timed silences, Hoover turns the fairly common problem of infertility into the more universal problem of poor communication. Graham and Quinn may or may not become parents, but if they don’t talk about their feelings, they won’t remain a couple, either.
Finding positivity in negative pregnancy-test results, this depiction of a marriage in crisis is nearly perfect.Pub Date: July 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-7159-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
Categories: FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP
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