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
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
© 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.
