If it all sounds slightly bonkers, it is—but Logan’s unique combination of bombastic action sequences, off-kilter...
The stakes are raised when opposing forces threaten all-out war in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.
Scottish journalist Logan (Wannabes, 2014, etc.) returns to the gore-filled world portrayed in his debut, Apocalypse Cow (2013). This is very much a novel about getting the band back together, at least those members of the motley crew who managed to survive the first go-round. To recap, a botched attempt to create a bioweapon created zombie cows in Britain in the first book. Now the outbreak has spread to humans, though the zombies it creates are more Invasion of the Body Snatchers than traditional monsters. “Extreme cases aside, the virus seems to have translated into more arguments, a lot more sex, and an inability to queue. They’d become Italian,” Logan writes. Journalist Lesley McBrian’s bestselling memoir of survival lands her a gig with the New York Times. She soon discovers a plot among the American, Russian, and Chinese governments to initiate “Operation Excision,” which intends to eradicate the infected Brits, along with aid workers, with a one-two punch of nerve gas and neutron bombs. Lesley and her source are duly kidnapped and dumped back in Great Britain. Teenager Geldof Peters travels from Croatia to Scotland under the protection of mercenaries hired by his grandfather. Young Ruen Peat has come under the protection of Fanny Peters, a social activist and Geldof’s mum. Fanny and her people have discovered that although they're infected, they've been able to fight off the effects through meditation, dope smoking, “combat yoga,” and sex. Finally, the U.K. prime minister, Tony Campbell, has decided that if there’s any threat to his country, he'll use his last intercontinental ballistic missile to spread the disease worldwide.
If it all sounds slightly bonkers, it is—but Logan’s unique combination of bombastic action sequences, off-kilter characters, and wild-eyed scenarios should please fans of speculative fiction and horror alike.Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-06165-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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