While slow at times, this sentimental book about a mysterious woman nevertheless manages plenty of surprises and an overall...
A sci-fi novel explores the importance of faith in a violent world.
Seib (Engravings, 2001, etc.) introduces readers to Steve Panailla, a photojournalist who sees plenty of desolation in his line of work. As Steve and his war-reporting colleagues attempt to get home for Christmas, they find themselves marooned in a run-down airport. In an attempt at holiday cheer, Steve’s associate hands him a manuscript he has written entitled The Smallest Angel. Readers are soon transported to a nondescript town where children play in treehouses and neighbors tend to know one another. It is here that siblings Jessica and Peter live with their widowed father, David. When a beautiful, ostensibly single woman named Nishka moves in next door, the stage seems set for a romantic comedy. All is not so simple, however. Nishka is quite an oddity. Her home is sparsely furnished, she never has any visitors, and her knowledge of love is limited at best. Though she develops a friendship with Jessica, an event soon occurs that is even more unsettling: the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While the characters attempt to adjust to an altered world, Jessica uncovers something even more surprising about Nishka. Whatever shall become of such a tangled web? Unapologetically tenderhearted, the story delivers action and twists. Though some characters, such as David, who is hesitant to date due to the “possibilities of being hurt again,” may be too one-dimensional, the narrative moves into places that few are likely to expect. Just when the reader thinks David and Nishka have finally made a connection, the plot takes a swift turn. Seeing it all through to the end does require patience, especially when a pastor gives a long sermon regarding 9/11 that includes a number of bland phrases like “Heroism has been redefined.” Surely such an idea could be conveyed by less obvious means, particularly when engaged readers will likely want to know when another dose of excitement will come their way. Still, for those unperturbed by such passages, the book culminates in just the type of ending that someone intrigued by the title will likely enjoy.
While slow at times, this sentimental book about a mysterious woman nevertheless manages plenty of surprises and an overall uplifting message.Pub Date: July 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4808-3069-1
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2016
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
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
