Despite wafer-thin characters, a satisfying fable that pits a hero who deeply believes in the rule of law against a violent,...
A San Francisco attorney brings a civil suit against an oil company in a frantic, ingenious attempt to save the life of an African dissident.
Bobby Okari has long been a thorn in the side of General Savior Karama, president of the nation of Luandia, a fictitious country that adds Zimbabwe’s strongman politics and Rwanda’s tribal strife to the oil-stained recent history of Nigeria. Now a massive protest Bobby has organized against Karama’s regime and the economic stranglehold of PetroGlobal Luandia has ended disastrously with the destruction of Bobby’s native village of Goro, the massacre of its inhabitants and Bobby’s arrest for the hangings of three PGL employees. The case against Bobby seems an obvious frame-up, but under the watchful eye of Karama and his brutal enforcer, Col. Paul Okimbo, it’s bound to succeed unless Bobby comes up with a secret weapon. That weapon arrives in the form of Damon Pierce, a recently divorced American lawyer who once loved Marissa Brand, the biracial idealist who became Bobby’s wife. Loyalty to Marissa draws Pierce to Luandia and through a numbing but highly informative series of meetings with forgettable functionaries who, as usual in Patterson (The Race, 2007, etc.), get to make a case for every possible viewpoint on Luandia’s tragic, fully consensual exploitation by multinational corporations and a world citizenry so avid for cheap oil that they’re more than willing to turn a blind eye on its true price. Returning to the United States, Pierce works feverishly to build a case against PGL for providing material support to Okimbo’s brutal repression of the protest in order to pressure the corporation to intervene in the case against Bobby—or, at the very least, to prevent it from fueling his prosecution in the show trial that’s bound to follow.
Despite wafer-thin characters, a satisfying fable that pits a hero who deeply believes in the rule of law against a violent, lawless regime that holds all the cards.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8772-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2008
The proliferation of older characters like Eve will be a pleasant and unexpected find for the many readers who understand...
Kubica’s psychological thriller centers on the abduction of a young teacher.
Mia Dennett comes from massive wealth, and that made her a juicy target. Chicago Police Detective Gabe Hoffman is assigned to lead the official search and finds himself increasingly attracted to Mia’s mother, a beautiful British woman in her early 60s. The story alternates between the past and present and is told through the voices of three of the participants: Mia’s mother, Eve; her abductor, Colin; and Gabe, the detective. Mia, who was freed after months of living in the Minnesota woods with her captor, has a type of amnesia that, her psychiatrist says, allows her to block out parts of what happened to her. Gabe is still trying to track down the truth about her captivity, while Eve is working to regain the daughter she believes is underneath Mia’s apparent apathy and confusion. Meanwhile, readers follow along with the abduction itself in Colin’s words and discover an odd but burgeoning bond developing between captor and captive in the harsh and unforgiving climate. Although Kubica has chosen to recount her tale in the present tense, which adds an odd stiffness to her otherwise very readable prose, she makes the characters engaging and moves the story along at a good clip. If the novel lacks credibility in any one area, it’s that the Chicago PD, one of the busiest law enforcement agencies in the world, would have the luxury of assigning one detective to a single case for months on end, even if the abductee was the daughter of an influential member of the judiciary.
The proliferation of older characters like Eve will be a pleasant and unexpected find for the many readers who understand that life over 55 can still be interesting.Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1655-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Suspenseful, glamorous story of love, blackmail, and magic, set in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., about a family of high-class magicians practicing the time-honored profession of thievery. When magician Maxmillian Nouvelle adopts the 12-year-old runaway Luke Callahan, he gives him more than a family: He teaches him the secrets of blending what's real and what's not...giving people what they want—and also taking what they value. For the Great Nouvelle is a master jewel-thief; stealing from the undeserving rich warms his blood like the anticipation of good sex, a passion that both Luke and Max's bratty daughter Raxanne eventually share. Thirteen years pass: As Luke practices the fine arts of larceny and escapology, Roxanne grows into a flame-haired witch who turns bell, book, and candle into smoke onstage. Offstage, she trades in her David Cassidy poster for Luke; together, they set off sparks that could make an innocent bystander..go up in flames. But Luke's invincibility, like the Great Houdini's, is deceptive: Slimy Sam Wyatt—a former grifter now running for the Senate—slithers in from Luke's past, his frigid heart full of contempt for the family he once tried to seam. He threatens to frame Luke for murder and expose the Nouvelles' after-hours show unless he disappears. Five years later, a homesick Luke reappears, determined to show the disillusioned Roxanne that he's more than smoke and mirrors. Together, they set out to plot vengeance, staking everything on their most daring sting to date. True to the magician's oath, Roberts reveals no secrets, but the illusion works—in a compelling and detail-rich first hardcover. Good escape reading.
Pub Date: July 17, 1992
ISBN: 0-399-13761-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1992
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