A slow-going but absorbing spy tale with a vibrant setting and characters.
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
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Stand did less well than The Shining, and The Dead Zone will do less well than either—as the King of high horror (Carrie) continues to move away from the grand-gothic strain that once distinguished him from the other purveyors of psychic melodrama. Here he's taken on a political-suspense plot formula that others have done far better, giving it just the merest trappings of deviltry. Johnnie Smith of Cleaves Mills, Maine, is a super-psychic; after a four-year coma, he has woken up to find that he can see the future—all of it except for certain areas he calls the "dead zone." So Johnnie can do great things, like saving a friend from death-by-lightning or reuniting his doctor with long-lost relatives. But Johnnie also can see a horrible presidential candidate on the horizon. He's Mayor Gregory Aromas Stillson of Ridgeway, N.H., and only Johnnie knows that this apparently klutzy candidate is really the devil incarnate—that if Stillson is elected he'll become the new Hitler and plunge the world into atomic horror! What can Johnnie do? All he can do is try to assassinate this Satanic candidate—in a climactic shootout that is recycled and lackluster and not helped by King's clumsy social commentary (". . . it was as American as The Wonderful Worm of Disney"). Johnnie is a faceless hero, and never has King's banal, pulpy writing been so noticeable in its once-through-the-typewriter blather and carelessness. Yes, the King byline will ensure a sizeable turnout, but the word will soon get around that the author of Carrie has this time churned out a ho-hum dud.
Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1979
ISBN: 0451155750
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1979
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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