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PAX BRITANNICA

THE GOLDEN ANVIL

A slow-going but absorbing spy tale with a vibrant setting and characters.

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In this alternate-history thriller, an unknown organization threatens the British Empire by stealing and ransoming its atomic bombs.

It’s 2006, and the British Empire has a monopoly on nuclear weaponry. Other countries are working at developing similar devices, but the empire’s biggest threat is more immediate. Someone has stolen five British atomic bombs and sent King James V a ransom note. The letter demands 10 billion pounds and claims that any effort to recover the bombs will result in detonations on British soil. It’s signed by “Raptor,” which British authorities assume is a terrorist group. The Imperial Secret Service calls on agent Mick Doyle for assistance. Unfortunately, Raptor is already targeting Doyle and other ISS agents for assassination. These attempts ultimately generate a lead—specifically, a link to a German-owned gold mine on Lihir Island, off the British territory of Papua New Guinea. Doyle and new field agent Alexandra McCall make their way to the isle, which has its share of natural dangers, including sharks and crocodiles. Although the ISS suspects mining director and German national Gustave Jäger of terrorist involvement, there’s a possibility that the Chinese government is in on it as well. Doyle, McCall, and a few allies strive to identify Raptor and/or locate the bombs before the ransom deadline. Dalzell’s (co-author: The Friends of Eddy Relish, 2019, etc.) thriller proceeds at a decidedly unhurried pace. For example, Doyle has encounters with Lihir Island’s crocodiles before he even gets to the gold mine, which essentially sidelines the primary mission. On the plus side, the slower clip allows readers to spend more time with the lively characters. Island local Nellie, for example, who helps nurse a wounded Doyle, also knows Morse code and proves to be formidable in combat. Likewise, the inevitable romance between Doyle and McCall isn’t merely window dressing, as Doyle, who’s in his mid-40s, contemplates giving up singlehood. The final act steps up the action, leading to an ending that hints at a potential sequel.

A slow-going but absorbing spy tale with a vibrant setting and characters.

Pub Date: April 18, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-72830-869-2

Page Count: 364

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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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MAGIC HOUR

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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