First vampire novel by sf writer Farren (Elvis and the Colonel, 1989, not reviewed) swaggers swankily and advances the genre by creating a new version of vampires' ancestry: Their creators came in UFOs, altered human DNA to fashion the new creatures, and, in their spare time, provided the inspiration for humankind's religions. Suave, thousand-year-old Victor Renquist, the Master of the nosferatu, who live in the Residence in Manhattan, must constantly temper the bloodlust of his followers, compelling them to restrict themselves to hospital bloodbags rather than living human prey. Victor is well aware that the colony risks extermination if it goes on a wilding and leaves exsanguinated bodies all over the city; after all, when European vampire families got out of hand in 1919, they were exterminated by the Church. Victor, who has sought to protect the colony by moving in the circles of the powerful and chic, has not left the Residence for two years, having become too famous for comfort. He's appeared in People magazine and on TV, has hosted parties for Henry Kissinger, Joan Collins, Edward Kennedy, Ivan Boesky, and even Mick Jagger. He is attended by a vampire Sicilian enforcer, Lupo, who calls Renquist Don Victor and treats him as Godfather. Also on hand is wildly intemperate young Carfax, who rebels against Victor's edict on bloodletting and plots to set up his own family. To complicate matters further, the time of ritual feasting, when the colony must replenish its energies by seeking live prey, is near. Wily Victor speculates that the feasting, if properly disguised, might be seen as the work of serial killers and psychopaths—if he can just keep his impetuous fellow vampires in line. Meanwhile, he is being pursued by Gideon Kelly, a defrocked whiskey priest on a vampire-hunting mission from God, and by a tough Manhattan police detective. The historical background offers considerable originality, while the storytelling speeds along with theatrical trumpery through predictable plot points.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-312-86213-X
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996
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
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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