In Job’s Crossing, Texas—the little town that sanity forgot—Grandma (—Biggie—) Weatherford keeps the peace as aggressively as Wyatt Earp once did. And if you don’t agree that that’s a chore and a half, then you’re not abreast of the body count. You’d think Job’s Crossing was nothing but mean streets the way the corpses keep piling up—and this is only number three in the series (Biggie and the Mangled Mortician, 1997, etc.). Poor Firman Birdsong comes up with the terrific notion of an all-chicken eatery but never gets to see it flourish—because on opening night there’s Firman as the fricassee of the title, plugged, then gravied from head to toe, garnished with parsley, rendered dead, and decorated by someone whose dislike of him must have been something special. As it turns out, quite a few in Job’s Crossing had it in for Firman, an entrepreneur with a checkered past. His brother, for one. Then there’s Dub Watkin, Firman’s rival for the affections of lush Fairy Lee. Plus a pair of mysterious strangers who complicate life for just about everybody but particularly for J.R., the story’s 12-year-old narrator, since one of the two is his long-lost—and very predatory—other grandma. And then there’s a second murder, seemingly connected to the first, though why kill a dotty old man who rides a lawn mower, convinced it’s a cayuse? Grandma Weatherford finally loses patience and nails the perp, as is her wont. Southern-fried folksiness (and recipes), possibly harmful to sensitive stomachs.
Pub Date: Nov. 11, 1998
ISBN: 0-312-19238-X
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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In Walsh’s American debut, a woman desperately tries to find out why the man she spent a whirlwind week with never called.
Sarah has just separated from her American husband and is visiting her hometown in England when she meets Eddie. He’s kind and charming, and although they only spend one week together, she falls in love. When he has to leave for a trip, she knows they’ll keep in touch—they’re already making plans for the rest of their lives. But then Eddie never calls, and Sarah’s increasingly frantic efforts to contact him are fruitless. Is he hurt? Is he dead? As her friends tell her, there’s a far greater likelihood that he’s just blowing her off—she’s been ghosted. After trying to track Eddie down at a football game, Sarah starts to become ashamed of herself—after all, she’s almost 40 years old and she’s essentially stalking a man who never called her. But as Sarah slowly learns, she and Eddie didn’t actually meet randomly—they both have a connection to an accident that happened years ago, and it may have something to do with why he disappeared. The tension quickly amps up as the secrets of Eddie’s and Sarah’s pasts are revealed, and the truth behind their connection is genuinely surprising and heartbreaking. The barriers between Sarah and Eddie seem insurmountable at times, and although their issues are resolved in a tidy manner, the emotions behind their actions are always believable. Walsh has created a deeply moving romance with an intriguing mystery and a touching portrait of grief at its heart.
A romantic, sad, and ultimately hopeful book that’s perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes.Pub Date: July 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-52277-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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An ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page.
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A withdrawn graduate student embarks on an epic quest to restore balance to the world in this long-anticipated follow-up to The Night Circus (2011).
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a typical millennial introvert; he likes video games, escapist reading, and drinking sidecars. But when he recognizes himself in the pages of a mysterious book from the university library, he's unnerved—and determined to uncover the truth. What begins as a journey for answers turns into something much bigger, and Zachary must decide whether to trust the handsome stranger he meets at a highflying literary fundraiser in New York or to retreat back to his thesis and forget the whole affair. In a high-wire feat of metatextual derring-do, Morgenstern weaves Zachary's adventure into a stunning array of linked fables, myths, and origin stories. There are pirates and weary travelers, painters who can see the future, lovers torn asunder, a menacing Owl King, and safe harbors for all the stories of the world, far below the Earth on the golden shores of a Starless Sea. Clocking in at more than 500 pages, the novel requires patience as Morgenstern puts all the pieces in place, but it is exquisitely pleasurable to watch the gears of this epic fantasy turn once they're set in motion. As in The Night Circus, Morgenstern is at her best when she imagines worlds and rooms and parties in vivid detail, right down to the ballroom stairs "festooned with lanterns and garlands of paper dipped in gold" or a cloak carved from ice with "ships and sailors and sea monsters...lost in the drifting snow." This novel is a love letter to readers as much as an invitation: Come and see how much magic is left in the world. Fans of Neil Gaiman and V.E. Schwab, Kelly Link and Susanna Clarke will want to heed the call.
An ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54121-3
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY | HISTORICAL FANTASY | LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION
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