A measured pace as methodical and practical as the murder story’s diplomatic protagonist.
Philadelphia Sheriff Chris DeAngelo returns to solve the killing of a political candidate’s wife, complete with a plethora of suspects and motives, in this thriller.
Checking on a car accident, DeAngelo’s taken aback when realizing the body behind the wheel is Sherry Mills, wife of Republican senator/gubernatorial hopeful Steven Mills. But it gets worse: her death was by gunshot. Mayor Elaine Strick wants to expedite the investigation and get it out of the papers, because her town of Macon is suffering from the notoriety surrounding a recent serial-killer case, which the sheriff wrapped up. She nominates the husband as the initial suspect, but then Strick’s also supporting Mills’ primary opponent, Rupert Kerman. As it turns out, there are quite a few people who had reason to prefer Sherry dead. Whoever had been supplying her with pills, for one, may have wanted her silenced, as would certain individuals with knowledge of her affair with a restaurant owner. DeAngelo and his always-reliable deputy, Rosemary Tippets, sift through the evidence to narrow the suspect list, but the most likely person winds up a murder victim, leading to further questions. The sheriff soon comes across more bodies and finds himself in someone’s cross hairs, in a town where everyone seems to use the same .308-caliber rifle that killed Sherry. Mucci’s (A Season to Kill, 2015) tale is dense with plot, which includes an assortment of felonious deeds, from blackmail and burglary to a mobster’s presence. Pinning down a murderer—if it’s just one—is a challenge, but with DeAngelo at the helm, it’s likewise absorbing. The sheriff, for example, rarely sways; sure, he takes time to flirt with “super-hot bartender” Maryanne, but only because she works at the restaurant owned by one of his suspects. DeAngelo layers his first-person narrative with cynicism, equating a snow-covered property with “an arctic outpost in desperate need of resupply.” But he combines this hard-boiled detective quality with a pragmatic outlook, which truly makes him stand out: he’s a struggling alcoholic who still drinks, just less than usual. The sheriff’s a work in progress, knowing his success requires time and effort, an approach he applies to his investigations.
A measured pace as methodical and practical as the murder story’s diplomatic protagonist.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9976718-3-4
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Rook Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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