Will satisfy readers with an appreciation for vigilante justice and a soft spot for sensitive heroes.
Le Mat (Hasten Down the Wind, 2010, etc.) returns with a collection of noir shorts.
Each vignette recounts brushes with crime and danger as the protagonist becomes the unsuspecting—and very willing—hero. The women purr and the men throw punches, and readers can almost smell the cigarette smoke curling up from the page. Staccato sentences give the stories a quick pace that crash toward the end, but rarely to a resolution. The title story, “Aracely,” is the strongest, with only a few dated references interrupting its seamless pace; the protagonist looks for a phone booth and phone book, and calls e-mail a “newfangled invention.” The suspense builds deliciously, as the two main characters try to solve a murder without help from the police. It can be cliché at times: a potbellied detective who doesn’t have a clue; a foreign mobster with a temper; a secret prostitute ring. These plotlines surface in later tales. But the deliberate pace and character development make this story shine, and keep the pages turning quickly. The following stories feature lonely protagonists who are shadows of the macho heroes they hope to be and sometimes become, as in “A Mysterious Trip.” These Everymen are divorced, unemployed, sad (“Just Another Day,” "Dasher"). Crime thrillers are spaced out between brief musings on the impossibility and hopelessness of love (“The Look of Love,” “Tradition”). “That Night” and “Two Fountains of Grace” veer off into the psychedelic, which doesn’t seem to match the rest of the book’s tone. “What’s Wrong with This Picture” picks up where “Aracely” leaves off; but eight short stories is not enough time to start missing these two gumshoes. The momentum from “Aracely” doesn’t carry through, and the suspense fizzles out before the murder is even solved. Le Mat should have left “Aracley” alone with its stunning cliffhanger instead of wrapping up the story with this dud.
Will satisfy readers with an appreciation for vigilante justice and a soft spot for sensitive heroes.Pub Date: April 20, 2010
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 175
Publisher: Le Mat Films, Inc.
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A heartwarming portrait of a broken heart finding a little healing magic.
After acing a job interview and accepting a marriage proposal, Dannie Kohan has had the perfect day. That is, until she awakens to find herself five years in the future with a completely different man.
Just one hour in that alternate reality shakes Dannie to her core. After all, highly ambitious Dannie and her boyfriend, David, have plotted out their lives in minute detail, and the sexy man in her dream—was it a dream?—is most certainly not in the script. Serle (The Dinner List, 2018) deftly spins these magical threads into Dannie’s perfectly structured life, leaving not only Dannie, but also the reader wondering whether Dannie time traveled or hallucinated. Her best friend, Bella, would delight in the story given that she thinks Dannie is much too straight-laced, and some spicy dreaming might push Dannie to find someone more passionate than David. Unfortunately, glamorous Bella is in Europe with her latest lover. Ever pragmatic, Dannie consults her therapist, who almost concurs that it was likely a dream, and throws herself into her work. Pleased to have landed the job at a prestigious law firm, Dannie easily loses her worries in litigation. Soon four and a half years have passed with no wedding date set, and Bella is back in the U.S. with a new man in her life. A man who turns out to be literally the man of Dannie’s dream. The sheer fact of Aaron Gregory’s existence forces Dannie to reevaluate her trust in the laws of physics as well as her decision to marry David, a decision that seems less believable with each passing day. And as the architecture of Dannie’s overplanned life disintegrates, Serle twists and twines the remnants of her dream into a surprising future.
A heartwarming portrait of a broken heart finding a little healing magic.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3744-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
