A complex, moving story that addresses deeply important issues.
In Hodgskin’s debut novel, a new Catholic bishop must decide how to handle expensive litigation against his diocese, involving cases of sexual abuse.
In 2006, Monsignor Patrick R. Nixon is made the new vicar general for the Roman Catholic diocese of Renawalla County, California. He was specifically brought onboard to help the diocese manage a terrible scandal involving priests who had sexually abused 161 children over many years. But less than a month after he assumes his new duties there, the man who appointed him, Bishop Joseph Menusa, suddenly has a disabling stroke, apparently worn down by the stress of the diocese’s challenges. Nixon decides to take a more proactive role in every facet of the litigation that’s pending against the diocese, and he quickly realizes that he will have to find some way to both minimize potentially catastrophic financial loss and also provide proper deference to the victims. Nixon makes a settlement offer to the boisterous lawyer who’s representing the plaintiffs, Thomas Daniel “Touchdown” Blair, to settle out of court for $10 million, but Blair dismisses the amount as insulting; he’s pinned his hopes to an exponentially larger award. Meanwhile, Nixon’s desire to find some measure of justice for the victims isn’t shared by either the diocese’s lawyer or its chief financial officer, both of whom contest Nixon’s leadership. In a further complication, the monsignor hires a new director of risk management and insurance services, Bethany Griffin—an emotionally wounded woman for whom he develops profound and potentially illicit affection. Overall, Hodgskin intelligently portrays the tension that surrounds his protagonist. The author’s knowledge of the inner workings of the Catholic Church is shown to be encyclopedic, as is his expertise regarding the law and the intricacies of liability insurance. As a result, the dramatic aspects of the plot sometimes get overshadowed by his scrupulously meticulous conveyance of bureaucratic detail. However, the author does lucidly and stirringly portray Nixon’s unenviable position—torn between his fidelity to the diocese and his feeling of responsibility toward those it betrayed. Also, the book raises intriguing legal and societal questions about the status of the church in a worldly and political context; for example, to what extent, if any, does the church’s autonomy as an institution insulate it from legal scrutiny? In addition, the author masterfully captures the brewing intimacy between Nixon and Bethany, a relationship that exists on the outer perimeter of what some find socially acceptable. Indeed, Hodgskin’s prose is at its best when capturing the couple’s electric connection: “Holding her close, inhaling the scent from her hair, his heart ached for her misery despite the unawareness of its cause.” Bethany’s character is the most affectingly drawn in the entire novel; after she undergoes an unspeakable tragedy, in which she simultaneously loses her husband and four children, she finds that her trust in God has been badly shaken, and her new role at the diocese provides her with a possible shot at happiness and spiritual peace.
A complex, moving story that addresses deeply important issues.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4897-1712-2
Page Count: 420
Publisher: LifeRichPublishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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