Not the most likable protagonist but watching him confront danger may garner interest in his previous tales.
In Borelli’s (At Last Reconciled, 2013, etc.) latest thriller, a New York lawyer gets caught up in a U.S. operation to neutralize weapons-grade material hidden in Iran.
When agents from the CIA and National Security Agency show up at his law office, Niccoló Cérvantés de’Conti assumes the worst. After all, they could very well know about his occasional role as vigilante, though he was acquitted for the murder of the three men who raped and killed his daughter. It turns out that President Obama needs the services of Nick’s clientele who do business in Iran, which is violating the nuclear agreement by concealing bomb material. The U.S. government believes Nick can use his contacts to help the military transport it out of Iran. The attorney, who doesn’t believe moving that much material is feasible, suggests an alternate plan: destroy it in situ. The president agrees, and Nick sets about recruiting Iranians—more specifically, his new bride and fellow lawyer, Laleh Sassani, who in turn recruits her affluent father, Behnam Sassani. President Obama and agents convince Nick to supervise the seven physicists on their covert mission in Iran. Nick and the “eggheads” undergo physical training and test a small nuclear bomb to ensure it will detonate. He also makes certain his loved ones are financially secure, in case he doesn’t return. Readers may have trouble cozying up to the recurring protagonist. Nick definitely has positive attributes—an unmistakable fondness for his Harlem hometown and not flaunting his wealth. But the married man ogles and fantasizes about women while constantly clashing with female authorities, like drill instructor Sgt. Harriet Lane. Likewise, he readily admits he doesn’t love Laleh, marrying her simply for her cooperation in the Iran plan. Descriptions are sometimes threadbare (Nick’s “odd looking cellular telephone, like nothing normal humans carry around”) but never confusing. The final act is bolstered by a threat of global war. It’s riveting stuff, though the finale includes a jarring personnel shift.
Not the most likable protagonist but watching him confront danger may garner interest in his previous tales.Pub Date: March 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5236-7879-2
Page Count: 314
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Too much drama at the end detracts from a finely wrought and subtle conundrum.
Ware (In A Dark, Dark Wood, 2015) offers up a classic “paranoid woman” story with a modern twist in this tense, claustrophobic mystery.
Days before departing on a luxury cruise for work, travel journalist Lo Blacklock is the victim of a break-in. Though unharmed, she ends up locked in her own room for several hours before escaping; as a result, she is unable to sleep. By the time she comes onboard the Aurora, Lo is suffering from severe sleep deprivation and possibly even PTSD, so when she hears a big splash from the cabin next door in the middle of the night, “the kind of splash made by a body hitting water,” she can’t prove to security that anything violent has actually occurred. To make matters stranger, there's no record of any passenger traveling in the cabin next to Lo’s, even though Lo herself saw a woman there and even borrowed makeup from her before the first night’s dinner party. Reeling from her own trauma, and faced with proof that she may have been hallucinating, Lo continues to investigate, aided by her ex-boyfriend Ben (who's also writing about the cruise), fighting desperately to find any shred of evidence that she may be right. The cast of characters, their conversations, and the luxurious but confining setting all echo classic Agatha Christie; in fact, the structure of the mystery itself is an old one: a woman insists murder has occurred, everyone else says she’s crazy. But Lo is no wallflower; she is a strong and determined modern heroine who refuses to doubt the evidence of her own instincts. Despite this successful formula, and a whole lot of slowly unraveling tension, the end is somehow unsatisfying. And the newspaper and social media inserts add little depth.
Too much drama at the end detracts from a finely wrought and subtle conundrum.Pub Date: July 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-3293-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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