by A.P. Greenwood ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2011
In spite of the book’s unpolished prose, Greenwood’s methodical protagonist will hold readers’ attention.
Greenwood (Lakota Dreams, 2009, etc.) presents a tale of a murder, romance and classified operations at a naval facility (Navfac) in 1970.
One year from retirement, Lt. Commander Alex Wolfe finds himself posted at a Navfac on the coast of North Carolina. Wolfe is the watch officer, overseeing the tracking of Soviet subs, but his collateral duty also has him functioning as the base’s legal officer. He’s immediately assigned the task of searching for an AWOL sailor, whom readers have learned, by the third page, has been beaten to death. Greenwood’s narrative presents Wolfe’s story in the first person, occasionally interrupted by third-person passages focusing on a U.S. submarine crew undergoing a top secret mission. Greenwood eventually ties this subplot to an investigation into the sailor’s death, as well as two additional murders. Further third-person addendums relay information of which the protagonist is unaware, obstructing potential mystery and diminishing suspense, as Wolfe is rarely in jeopardy. Wolfe’s behaviors are sometimes contradictory. He woos a local named Kate—a young-adult approach in which he’s excited by a simple kiss and contemplates something “long term” after first meeting the woman, despite her initial withdrawn behavior. At the same time, Wolfe openly flirts with the captain’s wife and is more than willing to engage in a tryst with her. Likewise, the lieutenant commander is enraged when his captain expresses more interest in a softball game than the investigation, but he later gripes about having been placed in right field. The author’s strong point is the story’s structure. Though he doesn’t allow his metaphors to speak for themselves (explicitly comparing Kate, who works at a fishing store, to a fish), Greenwood’s narrative often reads like a report. Wolfe prides himself on avoiding military terms (saying “3 o’clock” in lieu of “1500 hours”), but his first-person perception is highly detailed, like an officer’s account, specifying his meals at restaurants and frequently describing the interactions with others more than including the actual dialogue. Such a structure makes for a reliable narrator, and it’s maintained throughout, all the way to the rational, convincingly open-ended conclusion.
In spite of the book’s unpolished prose, Greenwood’s methodical protagonist will hold readers’ attention.Pub Date: July 21, 2011
ISBN: 978-1461180111
Page Count: 351
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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