by Richard Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 31, 2012
In this novel inspired by his own experiences in Jamaica and England, first-time author Brown weaves a story of brotherhood, friendship and ambition gone awry.
At the dawn of the new millennium, brothers Junior and Menny and their friend Moses are smoking marijuana and reading their favorite biblical psalms under an apple tree in St. Mary, Jamaica. They live hand-to-mouth lives, but the young men are dreamers; they all have hopes as high as the sky and a tremendous amount of ambition. The idea of moving to England is never far from their minds. Of the two brothers, Junior’s dreams revolve more around making money and having a big, beautiful house, while Menny, a talented singer, wants to use his gift to spread word of the Rastafarian movement and help continue the black struggle, in the tradition of Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King Jr. Eventually, the young men make their way to England, but their ambitions lead them down a dark path of crime, as they fall in with Kingston-born gangsters Reload and Serius, whose goal is to make money by any means necessary. The best part of Brown’s book is the dialogue, which is fortunate, since there’s a lot of it. He clearly has an ear for speech, and he adeptly captures voices for Jamaicans and Englishmen alike. Especially enjoyable are the phone conversations laid out on the page like a script without stage directions. The book becomes as much about personalities and voices as the fading dreams, and it’s all a pleasure to read.
A memorable novel with an authentic voice.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-1462881475
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | THRILLER | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
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. 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Max Brooks
BOOK REVIEW
by Max Brooks
More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Riley Sager ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2022
Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.
Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels—Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.
A weird, wild ride.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
Categories: PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION
Share your opinion of this book
Did you like this book?
More by Riley Sager
BOOK REVIEW
by Riley Sager
BOOK REVIEW
by Riley Sager
BOOK REVIEW
by Riley Sager
© Copyright 2022 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.