by Phoef Sutton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 8, 2016
Fast, light, and witty, Sutton’s second novel is a pleasure.
This fast-moving, wiseass, noir tale of murder and Hollywood features the return of bodyguard and bouncer Caleb Rush (Crush, 2015).
Crush (Caleb’s street name) has a simple task: his old friend Rachel Fury is paying him $500 to deliver an envelope and pick up a suitcase. The envelope is supposed to contain letters of transit from the movie Casablanca, for a collector of movie memorabilia. The suitcase is supposed to be full of cash, but both parties cheat each other. For her part, Rachel is “a part-time artist, part-time actress, and full-time grifter.” “It’s all a movie, Crush. And I’m the lead…conning rich bad guys and winning the heart of the Hunky Good-hearted Bodyguard Action Hero,” a perfect description of Crush. Like many of the characters, she’s manic and funny. Several years later, Crush happens upon an Oscar-nominated actress named Rachel Strayhorn passed out in a Porsche in the parking lot of a nightclub, dress hiked up and panty-free, being photographed by a bunch of guys with cellphones. Crush recognizes his friend Fury: “It’s a long con,” she tells him when he pulls her out of the car. “A very long con.” She even has her “very own stalker.” Crush, on the other hand, is a quiet tough guy who doesn’t use guns. “Your guns are you,” Rachel says. Her father, Lloyd, calls Crush “half Cossack and half Roman centurion.” Still, she says Crush will never make it as a grifter, because he’s too soft. Indeed, he hasn’t pulled a con in 10 years. They meet up with “film director and professional bad boy” Adam Udell, who makes action movies and has built a gleaming white pyramid in a cemetery as his “tomb-in-waiting.” People die, and Crush jumps bail after a bogus murder charge, but those are details in a tight plot that culminates in Oscar Night, where Rachel and Adam are both up for awards.
Fast, light, and witty, Sutton’s second novel is a pleasure.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-938849-84-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Prospect Park Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More by Phoef Sutton
BOOK REVIEW
by Phoef Sutton
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Phoef Sutton
by Michael Crichton ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2017
Falls short of Crichton’s many blockbusters, but fun reading nonetheless, especially for those interested in the early days...
In 1876, professor Edward Cope takes a group of students to the unforgiving American West to hunt for dinosaur fossils, and they make a tremendous discovery.
William Jason Tertullius Johnson, son of a shipbuilder and beneficiary of his father’s largess, isn’t doing very well at Yale when he makes a bet with his archrival (because every young man has one): accompany “the bone professor” Othniel Marsh to the West to dig for dinosaur fossils or pony up $1,000, but Marsh will only let Johnson join if he has a skill they can use. They need a photographer, so Johnson throws himself into the grueling task of learning photography, eventually becoming proficient. When Marsh and the team leave without him, he hitches a ride with another celebrated paleontologist, Marsh’s bitter rival, Edward Cope. Despite warnings about Indian activity, into the Judith badlands they go. It’s a harrowing trip: they weather everything from stampeding buffalo to back-breaking work, but it proves to be worth it after they discover the teeth of what looks to be a giant dinosaur, and it could be the discovery of the century if they can only get them back home safely. When the team gets separated while transporting the bones, Johnson finds himself in Deadwood and must find a way to get the bones home—and stay alive doing it. The manuscript for this novel was discovered in Crichton’s (Pirate Latitudes, 2009, etc.) archives by his wife, Sherri, and predates Jurassic Park (1990), but if readers are looking for the same experience, they may be disappointed: it’s strictly formulaic stuff. Famous folk like the Earp brothers make appearances, and Cope and Marsh, and the feud between them, were very real, although Johnson is the author’s own creation. Crichton takes a sympathetic view of American Indians and their plight, and his appreciation of the American West, and its harsh beauty, is obvious.
Falls short of Crichton’s many blockbusters, but fun reading nonetheless, especially for those interested in the early days of American paleontology.Pub Date: May 23, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-247335-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
by Catherine Coulter ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 30, 2019
Greed, love, and extrasensory abilities combine in two middling mysteries.
Coulter’s treasured FBI agents take on two cases marked by danger and personal involvement.
Dillon Savitch and his wife, Lacey Sherlock, have special abilities that have served them well in law enforcement (Paradox, 2018, etc.). But that doesn't prevent Sherlock’s car from hitting a running man after having been struck by a speeding SUV that runs a red light. The runner, though clearly injured, continues on his way and disappears. Not so the SUV driver, a security engineer for the Bexholt Group, which has ties to government agencies. Sherlock’s own concussion causes memory loss so severe that she doesn’t recognize Savitch or remember their son, Sean. The whole incident seems more suspicious when a blood test from the splatter of the man Sherlock hit reveals that he’s Justice Cummings, an analyst for the CIA. The agency’s refusal to cooperate makes Savitch certain that Bexholt is involved in a deep-laid plot. Meanwhile, Special Agent Griffin Hammersmith is visiting friends who run a cafe in the touristy Virginia town of Gaffers Ridge. Hammersmith, who has psychic abilities, is taken aback when he hears in his mind a woman’s cry for help. Reporter Carson DeSilva, who came to the area to interview a Nobel Prize winner, also has psychic abilities, and she overhears the thoughts of Rafer Bodine, a young man who has apparently kidnapped and possibly murdered three teenage girls. Unluckily, she blurts out her thoughts, and she’s snatched and tied up in a cellar by Bodine. Bodine may be a killer, but he’s also the nephew of the sheriff and the son of the local bigwig. So the sheriff arrests Hammersmith and refuses to accept his FBI credentials. Bodine's mother has psychic powers strong enough to kill, but she meets her match in Hammersmith, DeSilva, Savitch, and Sherlock.
Greed, love, and extrasensory abilities combine in two middling mysteries.Pub Date: July 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-9365-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.