Another literate thriller from the ever-reliable Read (Ablaze, 1993, etc.), this about a renegade agent of the erstwhile KGB who maneuvers to obtain funds for Russia's cash-strapped Communist Party. In the fall of 1992, art scholar Francesca McDermott arrives in a united Berlin to organize a retrospective exhibition of works by Chagall, Kandinsky, and other painters branded decadent by the Stalinists and their political heirs. Assisting in this project is Andrei Serotkin, a steely mandarin from Moscow whose past is something less than an open book. Back in the Kremlin, in fact, state security apparatchiks in power since the failed coup against Gorbachev assign a brutish operative named Nikolai Gerasimov to track down Serotkin, who, as the KGB's Andrei Orlov, masterminded a rogue mission that recovered illegally exported religious icons, albeit without turning over the hard currency earned from the illicit trade. The monetary gains from this heist have long since been invested in an even bigger and more daring caper, the details of which unfold gradually while closemouthed Serotkin and openhearted Francesca conduct a semi-discreet affair. Orlov/Serotkin, it develops, is a true believer in the Marxist cause and will go to any lengths to keep the flame alive during the dark, chaotic winter that has descended upon the former Soviet Union. Thus, before the government-approved show's scheduled opening, he efficiently hijacks the priceless paintings borrowed from museums all over the world, inducing Bonn to pay a $100 million ransom that replenishes the CP's depleted coffers. A twisty climax provides answers to such open questions as which prominent East Germans were Stasi informers before the Berlin Wall came down, what sorts of rewards are in store for enterprising careerists who cling to jobs in Russia's civil service, and whether Francesca will be able to make a life with Serotkin. Gripping, adult fare that probes the price tendered for survival in times and places of great change.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-44544-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1995
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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