While this environmental tale delivers some forgettable characters, it creates a strong narrative with a lasting impression.
A novel focuses on eco-terrorism in the Pacific Northwest.
According to activists like Sapphire MacKenzie, nature is in trouble. With corporations destroying the environment for profit and the government unwilling to stop them, it is apparent that drastic actions are in order if the Earth is to stand a chance. For many demonstrators, this means agitating for an autonomous region to be known as Cascadia. And while Sapphire insists on methods of peaceful protest, some advocates, like Garfield “Garf” Taylor, do not mind resorting to violence. Garf and his associates have a penchant for using explosives to establish their point, even when the consequences can prove deadly. Caught up in this fight is Chris Soles. Known to many by the alias of Chris Cadia, he is a legend of sorts, largely due to his affiliation with psilocybin mushrooms, a connection explained in Penney’s (Walking Away from the King, 2014, etc.) previous novel. As unrest grows in the country, much of its fomentation is attributed to Chris. While he is a friend to the Cascadia movement, he is hardly responsible for blowing anything up. He, along with his companion Kiri Thornson, is nevertheless tracked by powerful forces, and where all the campaigning, aggression, and paranoia will end is anyone’s guess. Full of topics that are particularly current (such as prominent people buying influence in government and a rising concern about the environment), the book presents a realistic plot. While some characters can be distractingly dull (including the villainous Theodore Dellenbach, who insists blandly that “profits are what it’s all about”), the story is fueled more by a desire to learn what will transpire next than by any particular player. Seeing how far some will go to try to save the planet while tracing how opponents plan to stop them provides steady tension that is not resolved until the very end. Although neither of the extreme views garners much sympathy, it is in this clash that the reader can draw striking parallels to the contemporary world.
While this environmental tale delivers some forgettable characters, it creates a strong narrative with a lasting impression.Pub Date: July 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5470-6994-1
Page Count: 552
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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