Another solid thriller with the always welcome and dexterous hero.
Terrorists may impede recreational time at a volleyball tournament for a Navy SEAL/CIA-trained pastor in this 10th installment of a series.
Long Island Lutheran Pastor Stephen Grant has the opportunity to dig his toes into the sand of Manhattan Beach. He and his wife, Jennifer, have VIP tickets for the Bedlam on the Beach Tour. But Stephen hasn’t even sipped his first piña colada when he recognizes members of CDM International Strategies and Security. This includes CDM head Paige Caldwell, Stephen’s former CIA partner. Stephen, who was also a SEAL, learns that the security team has its eyes on tourney participant Ranya Khan. As she’s the daughter of a Saudi prince, Ranya already has a personal bodyguard in the U.S. But Prince Hkim Khan hired CDM for extra protection during the event. However, Stephen later spots Elon Mizrah, a Mossad agent he worked with more than two decades ago. Mizrah is watching Ranya as well, as the prince’s attempts “to open up Saudi society” has likely incited Islamic militants. Unfortunately, terrorists are indeed at the tournament and waiting to strike while intelligence from a secret contact known as “11” may put the villains at a frightening advantage. Keating’s (Heroes and Villains, 2018, etc.) short story dives right into the action, with the proficient CDM team identifying suspicious individuals on the beach. As in preceding installments, this tale provides enough details about recurring characters that readers new to the series won’t be lost. Accordingly, the scene of Mizrah referencing Stephen’s history and past lovers (in Jennifer’s presence) is understandably awkward, though equally funny. Stephen is a well-rounded protagonist who’s skilled in combat but likewise vulnerable: He faces a bulky assailant who hardly acknowledges the pastor’s stranglehold. There’s an impressive mystery this time around, as readers may not easily discern the terrorists’ ultimate motivation or who exactly 11 is. Resolutions come to light during the rousing final act, rife with explosives, bullets, and a few bodies.
Another solid thriller with the always welcome and dexterous hero.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73095-686-7
Page Count: 119
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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