The latest ecclesial potboiler by West (Vanishing Point, 1996, etc.), this one centering on the troubles that await an Argentine cardinal who hopes not to be elected pope. Luca Rossini is a man between worlds. The son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, he now lives in Rome, where his Italian surname can’t really conceal the fact that he is on foreign ground in more ways than one. As a young priest, Rossini spoke out against the military junta and its “dirty war” of the 1970s—and was nearly killed as a result. Rescued from a squad of assassins by the wife of a senior diplomat, he was smuggled out of the country to the Vatican and has never returned. Now he faces a different sort of trial: the pope he has served for the last 20 years has died, and Rossini—who was one of the pontiff’s closest advisers—is looked upon as a likely successor. Where’s the problem, you ask? Well, for one thing, Rossini no longer believes in God. And for good measure, he is still in love with Isabel Ortega, his rescuer, with whom he had a brief affair before leaving Argentina. Now Isabel’s husband has been appointed Argentina’s ambassador to the Vatican, and he and Isabel are moving to Rome. How can Luca find peace? A rich panoply of colorful types—including a crafty servant, an Opus dei prelate, several journalists of middling scruple, and (naturally) the entire College of Cardinals—combines to prove to Luca what he had always feared might not be true: namely, that God writes straight with crooked lines—even if his eraser leaves a smudge or two. Brain candy, to be sure, but who’s counting calories? Vaticanologists will be having too much fun figuring out who’s who in this aptly timed roman-Ö-clef. (Radio satellite tour)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-15-100439-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1998
Michaels’s fan base isn’t likely to be increased by this improbable distaff pastiche of Mission: Impossible.
The Sisterhood takes on yet another evildoer in their endless quest to right wrongs against unjustly maligned women.
Architect Isabelle Flanders’s life was destroyed when her coldly ambitious employee Rosemary Hershey framed her for vehicular manslaughter and stole her ideas and her fiancé Bobby Harcourt. Now the Sisterhood (The Jury, 2005, etc.) has devised a diabolical plan to help her get revenge and recover her reputation. Wealthy Sisterhood stalwart Myra Rutledge installs Isabelle in a luxurious office and buys a Virginia property to set up a bogus contest in which local architects will be invited to design a sumptuous horse farm, planning to make Isabelle and Rosemary the only finalists. Meanwhile, Bobby, long fed up with Rosemary’s greed, sues for divorce, planning to start his own architectural firm. Rosemary, who’s receiving anonymous letters reminding her that it was she and not innocent Isabelle who ran down and killed a family, is sinking into a funk as the Sisterhood increases the pressure. A rainy night in a cemetery, bogus snakes and a broken rope finally get Rosemary to confess and leave the Sisterhood ready to plot their next adventure.
Michaels’s fan base isn’t likely to be increased by this improbable distaff pastiche of Mission: Impossible.Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7278-6349-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
An exciting, thought-provoking mind-bender.
In Crouch’s sci-fi–driven thriller, a machine designed to help people relive their memories creates apocalyptic consequences.
In 2018, NYPD Detective Barry Sutton unsuccessfully tries to talk Ann Voss Peters off the edge of the Poe Building. She claims to have False Memory Syndrome, a bewildering condition that seems to be spreading. People like Ann have detailed false memories of other lives lived, including marriages and children, but in “shades of gray, like film noir stills.” For some, like Ann, an overwhelming sense of loss leads to suicide. Barry knows loss: Eleven years ago, his 15-year-old daughter, Meghan, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Details from Ann’s story lead him to dig deeper, and his investigation leads him to a mysterious place called Hotel Memory, where he makes a life-altering discovery. In 2007, a ridiculously wealthy philanthropist and inventor named Marcus Slade offers neuroscientist Helena Smith the chance of a lifetime and an unlimited budget to build a machine that allows people to relive their memories. He says he wants to “change the world.” Helena hopes that her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, will benefit from her passion project. The opportunity for unfettered research is too tempting to turn down. However, when Slade takes the research in a controversial direction, Helena may have to destroy her dream to save the world. Returning to a few of the themes he explored in Dark Matter (2016), Crouch delivers a bullet-fast narrative and raises the stakes to a fever pitch. A poignant love story is woven in with much food for thought on grief and the nature of memories and how they shape us, rounding out this twisty and terrifying thrill ride.
An exciting, thought-provoking mind-bender.Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-5978-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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