Predictable action sponsoring a political and social agenda.
North (Mission Compromised, 2002, etc.) forecasts a near future with a liberal government gone authoritarian, and it’s left to Anarks (Anti-American Religious Kooks) and other right-thinkers to defend Constitutional ideals.
Part thriller, part conspiracy novel, part political screed, this book follows the Newman family, led by father-son USMC heroes Peter and James, as it becomes embroiled in the 2032 election year's dirty politics subsequent to a September 11 terrorist attack on a scientific conference: Old-school Clancy in a brave new world. The Caliphate, an Islamic hagiography, controls everything from North Africa to Indonesia, although the ever-combative Iranians, picking at scabs of the Sunni-Shia split, are no peaceful disciples. The U.S. has ceded personal liberties to the U.N. Citizens have a PERT (Personal Electronic Radio Tag) embedded in their bodies, and everyone carries traceable PIDs (Personal Interface Device) connecting to MESH, the fourth-generation Internet. North’s Acronym World 2032 needs an 11-page glossary, but the action is securely rooted in standard thriller dynamic. The catalyst is the apparent engineering of a fuel cell by Martin Cohen, retired admiral and professor, kidnapped during the conference attack. Cohen was Peter Newman’s Naval Academy classmate. Rumors were the fuel cell would be available for free, something that doesn’t go down well with the Iranians. Led by the widow of the previous incumbent, the current corrupt U.S. administration doesn’t want the attack blamed on the Caliphate, since her reelection depends on Caliphate money and its no-terror cooperation. An administration conspiracy labels the Newmans as Anarks and blames James Newman for the attack. The Newmans have the resources of their all-powerful intelligence/paramilitary company, Centurion Solutions Group, and have Sen. Mackintosh Caperton, another Academy classmate, as an ally. As the jargon-loaded narrative unfolds, the Newmans retreat to their private island; Cohen washes ashore in Yucatan post-hurricane; and drug smugglers allied with the Mexican government, Iranians and CSG operatives led by James Newman converge on scene for the de rigueur shootout, escape and resolution.
Predictable action sponsoring a political and social agenda.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4767-0631-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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