Joseph (Boy, 9, Missing, 2016) employs a lot of twists to get to her denouement, watering down some of its impact, and while...
Lots of blood but no body kicks off a thriller in which nothing is what it seems.
Detective Steven Paul is barely holding onto his job when he and his partner, Gayla Ocasio, are sent to visit Emily Lindsey in the hospital. He’s been having terrible dreams, and they’re affecting his waking life, so much so that his partner has been asked to report back to the department therapist if she thinks he’s having problems. When they meet Emily, she’s awake but unresponsive, and then when they come back into the room after having stepped outside for a few minutes, she’s drawn a symbol all over herself and her bed—a symbol that Steve has been seeing in his dreams. How is that possible? Emily’s husband, Dan, discovered her at their home covered in blood and clutching a knife but unable to tell him what happened; she’s not injured, so it isn't her own blood, and Steve’s name was on a Post-It Note in her pocket. Turns out Emily is a popular blogger known for stirring the pot, and her research into Ryan Griggs, a controversial figure in big pharma, has ruffled some powerful feathers. That's all Steve and Gayla have to work with. It’s an eye-opening avenue of investigation, and they need all the help they can get, because all that blood belongs to someone, and hopefully it’s not too late for him or her. Meanwhile, Steve, who narrates, struggles to cope with not only the nightmares and the visions, but the pain of not seeing the little boy who's not biologically his child but whom he raised from a very young age with his ex-wife. Interspersed with Steve and Gayla’s investigation are passages involving a group of children living in a compound who are determined to find out what terrible thing happens every year on June 2—it may have a connection with Steve’s terrible nightmares.
Joseph (Boy, 9, Missing, 2016) employs a lot of twists to get to her denouement, watering down some of its impact, and while the story requires some suspension of disbelief, Joseph’s prose is smooth enough to keep the pages turning.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4653-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.
Things are about to get bloody for a group of Charleston housewives.
In 1988, the scariest thing in former nurse Patricia Campbell’s life is showing up to book club, since she hasn’t read the book. It’s hard to get any reading done between raising two kids, Blue and Korey, picking up after her husband, Carter, a psychiatrist, and taking care of her live-in mother-in-law, Miss Mary, who seems to have dementia. It doesn’t help that the books chosen by the Literary Guild of Mt. Pleasant are just plain boring. But when fellow book-club member Kitty gives Patricia a gloriously trashy true-crime novel, Patricia is instantly hooked, and soon she’s attending a very different kind of book club with Kitty and her friends Grace, Slick, and Maryellen. She has a full plate at home, but Patricia values her new friendships and still longs for a bit of excitement. When James Harris moves in down the street, the women are intrigued. Who is this handsome night owl, and why does Miss Mary insist that she knows him? A series of horrific events stretches Patricia’s nerves and her Southern civility to the breaking point. (A skin-crawling scene involving a horde of rats is a standout.) She just knows James is up to no good, but getting anyone to believe her is a Sisyphean feat. After all, she’s just a housewife. Hendrix juxtaposes the hypnotic mundanity of suburbia (which has a few dark underpinnings of its own) against an insidious evil that has taken root in Patricia’s insular neighborhood. It’s gratifying to see her grow from someone who apologizes for apologizing to a fiercely brave woman determined to do the right thing—hopefully with the help of her friends. Hendrix (We Sold Our Souls, 2018, etc.) cleverly sprinkles in nods to well-established vampire lore, and the fact that he’s a master at conjuring heady 1990s nostalgia is just the icing on what is his best book yet.
Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68369-143-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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