McInerny, who's alternated lately between dark-hued character studies (Mom and Dead, 1993, etc.) and his Father Roger Dowling mysteries, tries his hand at a combination plate in this generously fashioned, punishingly paced look at the epidemic of annulled marriages in the US Church. The story kicks off when Father Dowling's offered a pair of coveted USCNotre Dame tickets designed to lure him to a South Bend, Ind., conference whose special guest will be iron-willed conservative Cardinal Josef Hildebrand. Before he can get to the 45-yard line, though, Father Dowling, recently escaped from the local marriage tribunal that grants annulments, will have to listen to Michael Geary and Maureen Furey accuse each other of ruining their marriage, then get updates every hour after Geary—who's already weathered an organist's accusation of unwanted sexual advances—is found dead (strangled? poisoned?) in the back of his car. Surviving him are, among others, his son Brian, a self- tormented hermit who insists he killed his father, and his brother- in-law, Gordon Furey, the police suspect, who exonerates himself by getting killed in the back of his car. Also on hand are Catherine Burger, Geary's sweetie; her son Freddy, president of Victims of Canon Law; somebody who has an unaccountable attachment to plastic dashboard madonnas; and the world's most inept kidnapper. McInerny's attempt to move in on Andrew Greeley territory- -surely a crossroads in his distinguished career—doesn't quite come off: His convincingly troubled supporting cast keeps running away with—or from—the routine whodunit, as if they'd just as soon be rid of Father Dowling and all his works.
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1994
ISBN: 0-312-11283-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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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