Ten heavy-handed parables, mostly cartoonish and occasionally stomach-turning—aimed at such worthy but obvious contemporary targets as homelessness, pollution, militarism, nuclear power, right-wing religions, and Nancy Reagan. None of these preachy farces is thought-provoking or genuinely horrific, but a few do conjure up images that are undeniably nauseating. In "The Mysterious Cemetery," cavalier medical research on cancer leads to an outbreak of huge earth-tumors in the neighborhood. "Nabuti: Warm Welcome to a UN Committee" is a sickening sketch—dead bodies festering in jammed elevators—of what can happen when an African land is given independence and modern technology. . .and then left to stew in ignorance, greed, and brutality. And "Trouble at the Jade Towers" offers a posh Manhattan hi-rise besieged by relentless, ever-larger cockroaches. Elsewhere, however, Highsmith's stories lack such vividly revolting specifics—and are merely transparent and dull. Whale-hunters get their just deserts when their quarry latches onto some modern human weaponry ("Moby Dick II; or The Missile Whale"). The government tries to dispose of nuclear waste in new, secret underground vaults—with predictably disastrous results. The homeless masses—mostly de-institutionalized mental patients—converge on the White House lawn. A new Pope starts a global revolution by suddenly announcing that abortion and birth control (among other things) are okay. And, in the book's overlong final entry, a Reagan-like President is bedeviled by an arms-for-hostages scandal—until his Scotch-swilling First Lady simplifies things by pushing the button that begins nuclear war with Russia. As political satire, then, these scenarios lack both imagination and depth—not to mention laughs. (An average Saturday Night Live skit is both funnier and subtler.) As futuristic horror, one or two of them are only slightly more successful. Together with the shaky novel Found in the Street and other recent story collections, these crude tales suggest that Highsmith—once such a powerful storyteller—is no longer in full artistic control of her morbidity and misanthropy.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1988
ISBN: 0802145639
Page Count: 273
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A murder is committed in a stalled transcontinental train in the Balkans, and every passenger has a watertight alibi. But Hercule Poirot finds a way.
**Note: This classic Agatha Christie mystery was originally published in England as Murder on the Orient Express, but in the United States as Murder in the Calais Coach. Kirkus reviewed the book in 1934 under the original US title, but we changed the title in our database to the now recognizable title Murder on the Orient Express. This is the only name now known for the book. The reason the US publisher, Dodd Mead, did not use the UK title in 1934 was to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel, Orient Express.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1934
ISBN: 978-0062073495
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1934
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