A mystery that may not fully satisfy genre fans, but Triolo’s deft characterizations make her an author to watch.
A cozy debut medical mystery with more heart than guts.
Triolo offers a comfortably paced tale about a series of mysterious deaths in the Critical Care Unit at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. A diverse group of medical professionals forms an unofficial team to investigate, but they face numerous obstacles, including a litigation-averse hospital administration more concerned about planning a media strategy than looking into possible homicides. Still, the group perseveres, drawing on each member’s area of expertise to try to determine the causes of the unexpected deaths and prevent further tragedies. Disappointingly, the novel reveals the killer’s identity, motive and job assignment (but not his name) almost immediately, undercutting the suspense and robbing the conclusion of impact. The killer’s motive is somewhat thin and fails to deepen over the course of the book: He’s so angry for what he perceives as substandard medical care for his combat injuries that he seeks revenge by killing... patients? He later fixates on members of the medical team, but his actions don’t seem to fit his avowed motivations. But although Triolo stumbles with her villain, she shines when portraying other characters, providing deep depictions of her medical heroes and poignant vignettes about particular patients. The author’s attention to character development is reflected in the quality of the dialogue, which sounds natural and authentic throughout, enlivening a story with an otherwise predictable plot. Her main character, Santos Rosa, stands out: a dedicated nurse, with little time for socializing, who makes space in her life for an endearingly chaste relationship with fellow nurse Patrick Sullivan. The quick, evocative patient portraits will make readers emotionally invested in their stories’ outcomes.
A mystery that may not fully satisfy genre fans, but Triolo’s deft characterizations make her an author to watch.Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1939288066
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Post Oak
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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