What could have been a soppy parable, or prose meant for the converted, is turned into a delight in Jordan’s deft hands. A...
Hell’s busted loose—literally—in Shibboleth, Ala., and the town’s salvation resides in the form of Nehemiah Trust, reluctant prodigal son.
A chain of events was set in motion when Nehemiah Trust left Shibboleth some 12 years earlier for Senator Honeywell’s offices in Washington, D.C. Seems that Nehemiah, along with his brother, Billy, and childhood friend Trice, were the unacknowledged protectors of all that was good in the dusty Southern town. With Nehemiah’s departure, that shield was broken, giving evil a chance to move in. As the underground springs dry, the skies darken and town folk begin to fade, Trice and Billy fetch Nehemiah from the capital to help set things right. But first, Nehemiah must be brought back into the fold—heart and soul. His aunt Kate (proprietor of the town diner) plies him with fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, peach cobbler; Trice (his unrecognized soulmate) hesitantly voices her premonitions. As Jordan (The Gin Girl, 2003) notes, Nehemiah is the town’s chosen one: “If they’d had a football team, he would have been their quarterback. If there had been a crowning, he would’ve been their prince. . . . Not a soul grew up more adored in this good town.” At least once before, evil visited the hamlet: When John Robert’s house went up in an unholy blaze, Nehemiah, alerted by Trice, called down torrents of rain that saved the building. (Nehemiah passed through the inferno unscathed, and rescued the man who came to be known as Blister.) But this time, the menace is far worse. As the childhood trio enters the underground springs and prepares to battle the unnamed presence within, a Recording Angel stands by to document the conflict. Above ground, the citizens of Shibboleth attempt to correct decades-old wrongs in what little time remains.
What could have been a soppy parable, or prose meant for the converted, is turned into a delight in Jordan’s deft hands. A beautifully written, atmospheric tale.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-084176-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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.
