Despite a generous accolade from Discworld creator Terry Pratchett, who bestowed the inaugural Terry Pratchett Prize upon...
“Two legs bad,” might be the borrowed motto of the titular monsters of this apocalyptic look at the end of the world—were the great beasts not busy trying to kill everybody.
Scottish journalist Logan stays rather deadpan in his absurdist debut, even as the animals on which we depend turn the tables on us. He is, however, quite deliberate in the creation of his deeply disturbed cast. Much of this Glasgow-based tale is seen through the eyes of British teen Geldof Peters, a boy saddled not only with the world’s most awkward given name, but also vegan hippie parents who foist things like hemp clothing upon him. Even sadder is slaughterhouse veteran Terry Borders, who believes the stench of death upon him is driving away the ladies. To jump-start the lurching plot, Logan introduces ineffectual journalist Lesley McBrien, who is competing both with her nemesis Colin Drummond and the reputation of her war correspondent father. When a secretive plot to develop a bioweapon to disrupt the food chain goes awry, the motley crew must get nimble to unravel the story, outrace the predators and escape the island. Lesley manages to ferret out the details of the story, while Terry discovers that his death-tinged aura is largely a product of his own anxiety. In one of many twists on the genre, the disease—which quickly spreads to all the other animal species—also inspires rather explicit lust as well as murderous rages. The addition of a relentless, murderous spook named Alastair Brown only ratchets up the graphic horror. There are a few funny lines, but it’s more straight-laced than you might expect.
Despite a generous accolade from Discworld creator Terry Pratchett, who bestowed the inaugural Terry Pratchett Prize upon it, this zombie adventure inspires more gasps than laughs.Pub Date: May 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-03286-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Britisher Swift's sixth novel (Ever After, 1992 etc.) and fourth to appear here is a slow-to-start but then captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request—namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies—insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start, with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does—or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms—including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism—with, in all, the ring to it of the honest, human, and true.
Pub Date: April 5, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-41224-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
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
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