Some readers might wish for more time on the island, but there’ll be no complaints about this breezy, quick read that can be...
A woman’s plea for help leads two grad students to a remote island that may hold the secret to infinite youth in the author’s latest thriller (Murder in the Valley of the Kings, 2013, etc.).
Hamnet “Ham” Andrews and Al Blake arrive in Maui for the International Conference on the Research of Aging. While relaxing on a private beach, Ham finds a message in a bottle from movie star Lona LeMonte, who’s yearning for rescue from the tropical island of Romosa, where she’s being held captive. Once there, Ham and Al realize that Romosa is special—Lona looks 30-ish but should be closer to 100 years of age—but aren’t aware that Dr. Richardson sees them as a threat and wants assurance that the two never leave alive. Michaelson’s novel is a diverting romp that’s equal parts romance and suspense, particularly when the doctor sends his henchman, Nabilac, to dispose of the two young men in what he hopes will look like accidents. The story, which clocks in at under 200 pages, might have benefitted from further details; prior to Ham and Al’s arrival on Romosa, Lona and aviator Penelope are both given extensive back stories, and though both had disappeared during separate flights, there’s no elucidation on how the ladies found the island. The two lead characters are appealing, since, after all, they go to great lengths to sail to Romosa and save a woman they’ve never met (though her promised fortune is good incentive). But their apparent immaturity can be vexing: “Awesome” is their preferred adjective, and Al’s endless swine-inspired nicknames for Ham come across as obnoxious, even if Ham is unfazed by them (“pig testicles” is an especially cruel one). Michaelson’s approach to the topic of eternal youth is refreshingly understated—there’s little talk of the island residents’ unmistakable lack of aging, so the potential fate of any resident who leaves Romosa is a mere implication and is only answered if and when it actually happens.
Some readers might wish for more time on the island, but there’ll be no complaints about this breezy, quick read that can be enjoyed in an afternoon.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490974651
Page Count: 202
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Fans weary of King's recent unwieldy tomes can rest easy: his newest is slim, slick, and razor-keen. His first novel without supernatural elements outside of the Richard Bachman series, this psychological terror tale laced with pitch-black humor tells the nerve-jangling story of a best-selling author kidnapped and tortured by his "number one fan." King opens on a disorienting note as writer Paul Sheldon drifts awake to find himself in bed, his legs shattered. A beefy woman, 40-ish Annie Wilkes, appears and feeds him barbiturates. During the hazy next week, Paul learns that Annie, an ex-nurse, carried him from a car wreck to her isolated house, where she plans to keep him indefinitely. She's a spiteful misanthrope subject to catatonic fits, but worships Paul because he writes her favorite books, historical novels featuring the heroine "Misery." As Annie pumps him with drugs and reads the script of his latest novel, also saved from the wreck, Paul waits with growing apprehension—he killed off Misery in this new one. tn time, Annie rushes into the room, howling: she demands that Paul write a new novel resurrecting Misery just for her. He refuses until she threatens to withhold his drugs; so he begins the book (tantalizing chunks of which King seeds throughout this novel). Days later, when Annie goes to town, Paul, who's now in a wheelchair, escapes his locked room and finds a scrapbook with clippings of Annie's hobby: she's a mass-murderer. Up to here, King has gleefully slathered on the tension: now he slams on the shocks as Annie returns swinging an axe and chops off Paul's foot. Soon after, off comes his thumb; when a cop looking for Paul shows up, Annie lawnmowers his head. Burning for revenge, Paul finishes his novel, only to use the manuscript as a weapon against his captor in the ironic, ferocious climax. Although lacking the psychological richness of his best work, this nasty shard of a novel with its weird autobiographical implications probably will thrill and chill King's legion of fans. Note: the publisher plans an unprecedented first printing of one-million copies.
Pub Date: June 8, 1987
ISBN: 0451169522
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1987
BOOK TO SCREEN
Unrelenting gloom relieved only occasionally by wrenching trauma; somehow, though, Hannah’s storytelling chops keep the...
Hannah’s sequel to Firefly Lane (2008) demonstrates that those who ignore family history are often condemned to repeat it.
When we last left Kate and Tully, the best friends portrayed in Firefly Lane, the friendship was on rocky ground. Now Kate has died of cancer, and Tully, whose once-stellar TV talk show career is in free fall, is wracked with guilt over her failure to be there for Kate until her very last days. Kate’s death has cemented the distrust between her husband, Johnny, and daughter Marah, who expresses her grief by cutting herself and dropping out of college to hang out with goth poet Paxton. Told mostly in flashbacks by Tully, Johnny, Marah and Tully’s long-estranged mother, Dorothy, aka Cloud, the story piles up disasters like the derailment of a high-speed train. Increasingly addicted to prescription sedatives and alcohol, Tully crashes her car and now hovers near death, attended by Kate’s spirit, as the other characters gather to see what their shortsightedness has wrought. We learn that Tully had tried to parent Marah after her father no longer could. Her hard-drinking decline was triggered by Johnny’s anger at her for keeping Marah and Paxton’s liaison secret. Johnny realizes that he only exacerbated Marah’s depression by uprooting the family from their Seattle home. Unexpectedly, Cloud, who rebuffed Tully’s every attempt to reconcile, also appears at her daughter’s bedside. Sixty-nine years old and finally sober, Cloud details for the first time the abusive childhood, complete with commitments to mental hospitals and electroshock treatments, that led to her life as a junkie lowlife and punching bag for trailer-trash men. Although powerful, Cloud’s largely peripheral story deflects focus away from the main conflict, as if Hannah was loath to tackle the intractable thicket in which she mired her main characters.
Unrelenting gloom relieved only occasionally by wrenching trauma; somehow, though, Hannah’s storytelling chops keep the pages turning even as readers begin to resent being drawn into this masochistic morass.Pub Date: April 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-312-57721-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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