Last-gasp cold war hostilities provide an American submarine commander the opportunity to avenge his father's death. Authentic naval detail distinguishes the debut of the author, an Annapolis graduate and submarine sailor. The plot-generating treachery at the highest levels of the former Soviet navy is a standard military thriller device, but the firsthand feel for life aboard a nuclear hunter-killer sub—as well as for warfare under the polar icecap—is fresh and welcome in this not-too-technothriller. At a time when the superpowers are supposedly dismantling their superweapons, second-generation submarine skipper Michael Pacino speeds U.S.S. Devilfish to the Arctic to sniff out a huge and remarkably stealthy new Russian sub. Commanding the fleet submarine Kalingrad over the nominal control of the boat's unhappy captain is unreconstructed Bolshevik Admiral Alexi Novskoyy—who's about to implement his private plan to knock international relations back to the late 40's with an unprovoked attack on the US. It's not his first time at wielding his own foreign policy. As a sub skipper back in the 70's, Novskoyy, without provocation, torpedoed an American boat that found his polar hiding place. The American captain in that incident was Michael Pacino's father. Novskoyy is not completely alone in his plot. He's got a mole placed at the very top of the Pentagon, an Air Force general who keeps assuring the President that the sudden appearance of the complete Russian northern submarine fleet off the American East Coast is just an exercise. The President may be buying that story, but the admiral in charge of America's Atlantic submarine fleet, Pacino's mentor and godfather, is having none of it. He sends his godson orders to do whatever may be necessary to call the Russians to heel. Tense and, when at sea, chillingly realistic. There's a hefty glossary at the end, but DiMercurio's action needs no technical assistance.
Pub Date: Aug. 18, 1992
ISBN: 1-55611-291-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Donald Fine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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