by Paul Michael Peters ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
An enthralling and unnerving probe into the complex mind of a murderer.
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In this thriller, a desperate author agrees to write the story of an enigmatic, self-professed serial killer.
Rick Philips’ days of being a famous author may be behind him. It’s been more than a decade since he released the bestselling Shelter in Place, in which he recounts his experience as the sole survivor of a high school shooting. He now teaches writing at Dupont University. But the college’s dean implies that if Rick doesn’t soon produce something substantial, he’ll lose his job. As it happens, Rick has already found a topic for his next book: a female serial killer. Or rather, she found him. He and Harriet Bristol Wheeler met recently at a writers’ conference, where she admitted she is a serial murderer and told him she wants him to tell her story. He complies and begins regularly interviewing Harriet. She says she’s killed 12 individuals but insists they aren’t victims, as they were all “bad people.” To allay any doubts Rick may have, Harriet takes him to a dumped body that she later IDs. Beyond that, she’s predominantly evasive: She reveals her history but only gradually names the others she’s murdered. Rick doesn’t immediately see the danger in his frequent proximity to a serial killer, but his life has been in turmoil for years, as he drinks excessively and has nightmares of Ian Maynard Abbot, the school shooter who nearly killed him. It may not be long before Harriet, who’s both clever and unpredictable, becomes the “monster” Rick fears the most. Peters’ (The Complete Collection of Short Stories, 2019, etc.) evenly paced novel is a riveting look at a serial killer, even if only in glimpses. Despite Harriet’s openness in detailing certain murders, she’s shrouded in mystery. Harriet isn’t her real name, and she cryptically tells Rick that, while she’s killed some, others have “just happened to die around” her. Rick also has a somewhat murky background. But this slowly comes to light through interactions with two strong female characters: Paige Turner, his first ex-wife, with whom he’s still on good terms; and Samantha Taylor, a neighbor, Dupont graduate student, and potential love interest. Though Rick and Harriet often assert that she’s a cunning murderer who doesn’t fit serial killer profiles, it’s not clear how she’s eluded detection for so long. For example, most scenes show Harriet killing someone with little to no planning and no indication she took precautions to avoid leaving evidence behind. Still, Harriet is an endlessly intriguing character. Rick sometimes sees “coldness” in her eyes or lack of emotion, but she easily charms people. What she’s thinking or feeling is nearly impossible to determine, and readers may wonder how much of what she’s relaying to Rick is true. The author generates a modicum of sympathy for Harriet, who supposedly has an inoperable brain lesion and a daughter whom someone took from her. Rick, meanwhile, makes a disturbing request of Harriet, which plays out in a twisty final act and open ending.
An enthralling and unnerving probe into the complex mind of a murderer.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73308-831-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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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