The words of Internet bloggers are viable weapons, and a former Army captain is enlisted to help a team deter anti-American propaganda in Lamke’s debut novel.
Lane Evans, an aide to the ambassador in Thailand, is assigned the task of identifying a blogger who’s posting views critical of the United States’ post-tsunami presence in the country. His success is noted by retired Col. Tom Lewis, whose secret organization targets online activity to subvert potential terrorism in the U.S. Lane, however, questions the consequences for the bloggers after they have been detected, and as he keeps a close eye on Lewis, he soon realizes that he is also being watched. A character initially dubbed “the stranger” is a killer whose identity and purpose are revealed within the novel’s first half, such that the story deftly retains suspense by Lane being fully aware, or at least suspecting, the source of transgression. Tension is equally maintained by characters’ motivations remaining unclear and trust playing a crucial role. Unfortunately, Lane is contradictory, sometimes displaying qualities one might not associate with an Army captain who’s led troops in combat. He’s seemingly anxious around the ambassador and a CIA analyst, Eve, with whom he’s enamored (despite having a girlfriend, Ana). Likewise, Lane has altering opinions of what should be done to people responsible for anti-American blogs, an indecisiveness that carries over to his relationships with Eve and Ana as well. The novel is bolstered by well-established supporting characters: Eve and Ana, both possessing with familial backgrounds that add more depth to their characters, and also one of the men duped into helping with the villains’ treacherous deeds, who ultimately changes sides. Though the protagonist is unremarkable, the characters that surround him are sturdy components of a satisfying, impressive first novel.
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2010
ISBN: 978-0984598519
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Knightime Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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