A sometimes-intriguing sequel that hits the ground running, but not every reader will wish to keep up with it.
Anti-terrorism agent Miguel Mejia is caught between his duty and the voices in his head in Walton’s (APOK, 2013) second political thriller in a series.
In the near future, the world has united under one government, but not everyone is content with this arrangement. Unemployment worldwide has reached a record high, and the anti-government terrorist organization Sons of Liberty has launched a bombing campaign against civilians. Col. Miguel “APOK” Mejia is a leader in the mission to root out the terrorist threat, but after he’s severely injured in a bombing in Beijing, he awakens in a hospital. The first-ever global election is about to take place—a crucial test for the new order—and, as investigative reporter Carrie Warren is discovering, certain parties are willing to manipulate reporters to see their preferred outcome. Miguel’s friends, including Capt. Paula Connie, want him back on his feet to meet whatever threats lurk in the shadows, but he’s been behaving strangely since his injury. He’s been hearing a hoarse, accented voice in his ear—one that no one else can hear—and it’s been whispering disturbing threats. When it gives him instructions to assassinate World Leader Reficuel Nomed, it looks like the planet’s greatest asset in the fight against terrorism may become the greatest threat to world democracy. Walton’s detailed prose has an urgent tone throughout, and the worldbuilding and plot are both highly complex. However, his use of the present tense makes some passages feel more like a screenplay than a novel: “As the dashboard lights begin to fade, the driver’s door opens. A near-bare feminine body enters the warm air. She closes the door using her hips and surveys the exterior of the vehicle.” Also, the author never quite strikes a consistent balance between delivering and withholding information, leaving the reader frequently confused despite moments of clunky expository dialogue. The resulting flat characters and messy structure may make it difficult for readers to become fully invested in the story.
A sometimes-intriguing sequel that hits the ground running, but not every reader will wish to keep up with it.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3644-1
Page Count: 461
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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