bookshelf

Skyward

Name: Skyward
Author: Philip David Alexander

by Philip David Alexander ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A chilling, atmospheric crime procedural.

bookshelf

Cops in a small Canadian town try to solve the disappearance of a young man and catch a killer in this complex thriller.

Alexander (Peacefield, 2014, etc.) uses multiple perspectives in this story of a criminal on the loose, set against the backdrop of the vacant Skyward fairgrounds. It begins with a seemingly innocuous car chase; Detective Matt Sharp and his partner are on the trail of a man whom they caught drinking while driving. However, as the perspectives switch throughout the novel, it soon becomes evident that the driver (known only as “Pursued”) is guilty of far worse crimes, including murder. Meanwhile, local troublemaker Stan Hill finds himself the prime suspect when his young brother, Jarrod, goes missing; he’s the third such young boy, in fact, to disappear from the Skyward fairgrounds. Finally, Constable Sheila Warfield, who secretly has the power of psychic premonitions, gets involved when she senses evil and danger in the case of the aforementioned driver. As the suspense escalates and the true identity of Pursued is revealed to readers, the characters must figure out who the killer among them is before he strikes again. Alexander has a sharp eye for detail and a keen sense of place, which bring scenes at the deserted fairgrounds, once home to a “giant, twinkling freak-show with a big top,” to life for readers. Some of the overlapping perspectives make the narrative a little confusing to follow, especially at the beginning; there are enough people who have absent or disappointing fathers that it can be tricky to remember who’s who. But as the story races on, it becomes clearer who the culprit is and the suspense ramps up enough to keep readers hooked. A few of the players, such as Sharp’s wife, Ingrid, could have been fleshed out more, but generally, the narrators are well-developed and compelling—even if the passages narrated by Pursued are a little gruesome in their murderous detail. Overall, this is an unusual but well-crafted and smartly paced thriller.

A chilling, atmospheric crime procedural.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Now or Never Publishing Company

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

bookshelf

Awards & Accolades

Likes

649

Our Verdict

GET IT

New York Times Bestseller

DEVOLUTION

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

bookshelf

Awards & Accolades

Likes

649

Our Verdict

GET IT

New York Times Bestseller

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

Categories:

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Devolution Movie Adaptation in Works

bookshelf

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

bookshelf

A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.