A worthwhile read for those interested in finding out how a man with a mind full of bad memories can serve both God and man...
A novel about a rough-and-tumble priest and his quest for justice, from debut author Halleck.
Father Theo Riley isn’t your average priest. Having survived a difficult childhood, time as a boxing champion and the Korean War, he’s tough inside and out. That’s not to say he’s untroubled. In the small coastal town of Manzanita, Oregon, he’s burdened by memories of war, a lost love and the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church, taking to regular bouts of drinking and occasional periods of despair—“I’m good for nothing but bein’ a punchin’ bag.” Nevertheless, though his parish is small, he does all he can for the community. For instance, after confronting a man guilty of beating his family, Theo is physically beaten himself; he gets the man sentenced to jail but hardly realizes the difficulty he is sowing. In jail, the man strikes up a friendship with a seedy, pseudo-religious figure named Genghis. After taking the man under his wing, Genghis hatches a plot that, he imagines, will be too much for Theo to handle. Can Theo stop such a diabolical figure while confronting the many demons of his own? While creating a truly burdened figure, the novel is heavy on the many troubles in Theo’s past, not the least of which involves trying to save orphans in Korea: “The faces of the orphans passed through me again; an eternal, far-reaching shadow.” Likewise, Genghis’ despicable past proves to be one of morbid interest. Many characters in between, however, often fall to stereotypes. From trusty quarterback-turned-sheriff Bud to the all-wise Native American Solomon (“Pictures of [Solomon] in his headdress and suede clothing were proud and striking—it was another world”), the supporting characters can be unimaginative. Readers intrigued by a rugged Oregon town and its warrior priest may not mind as Theo confronts his many enemies and confides in his many friends.
A worthwhile read for those interested in finding out how a man with a mind full of bad memories can serve both God and man in his quest for redemption.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1620154397
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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