by Rosamund Lupton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 16, 2016
Shrewdly commercial and seamed with some memorable descriptions of the polar wilds, Lupton’s latest, though unsteady at...
Can an intrepid mother and her plucky deaf daughter survive a perilous ride across a midnight polar landscape to find the missing-presumed-dead third member of their family?
Threats accumulate more thickly than snowflakes in the arctic blizzard through which guilty yet resourceful mother Yasmin Alfredson must drive, in this third novel from British suspense author Lupton (Afterwards, 2012, etc.). The strongly visual story hits the ground running as Yasmin and her 10-year-old daughter, Ruby, having just arrived on a flight from England to Fairbanks, Alaska, are told that a fire has killed everyone at Anaktue, the tiny village where Yasmin’s husband/Ruby’s father, Matt, was based while researching a wildlife documentary. Although the police have found Matt’s wedding ring at the site, Yasmin refuses to accept his death and, since the authorities have stopped looking, resolves to find him herself. What follows is a woman-and-daughter-in-peril scenario verging at times on the superhuman as Yasmin ends up driving a vast truck across Alaska, through terrifying terrain and weather conditions, pursued—not unlike in the 1971 Steven Spielberg movie Duel—by faceless foes. While this journey is paced like a bullet, Lupton layers on multiple additional dangers: creepy eco-warriors; avalanches; scary anonymous emails of pictures of dead animals; scruple-free energy companies; wolves; and more. The narrative point of view is split between Yasmin, repenting of her shortcomings toward both Matt and Ruby, and the spunky child, assisted by her Voice Magic laptop. However, a late shift in focus saps some of the story’s powerful intimacy, substituting skimpier narration and worthier themes. Lupton is at her best when describing the dark, wintry wilderness and pitting her two female protagonists against all comers.
Shrewdly commercial and seamed with some memorable descriptions of the polar wilds, Lupton’s latest, though unsteady at times, delivers an engrossing wallop of readable escapism.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90367-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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by Josie Silver ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 16, 2018
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2012
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
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