A well-written mystery about a unique community imbued with a palpable sense of place.
A new sheriff tries to untangle a web of murder, domestic terrorism, and secrets in a debut thriller from Fee.
Matt Callahan arrives in Nicolet County, Michigan, bearing emotional and physical scars after an attack brutally disrupted his life as a Chicago cop. His new jurisdiction, spread across several remote islands in the northern end of Lake Michigan, seems like a good location for rebuilding his life. His tiny, tame department mostly handles issues like traffic control and roadkill removal, and his tenacious deputy, Amanda Gillespie, and kindly dispatcher, Julie Banville, help him navigate the islands’ multigenerational Irish community. But a dark underbelly to this peaceful area becomes apparent when Callahan discovers a body buried in the woods. The victim is not a local, and further investigation by Callahan, Amanda, and Julie uncovers connections to a rape case, a supposedly accidental hunting death, mysterious explosions on Native American land, and domestic and Irish paramilitary groups. The novel stands out for its vivid settings; the carefully described people and places of the wild, beautiful Nicolet County make Callahan’s world feel real. A large cast, from a no-nonsense tribal police chief to a drunk who constantly misplaces his boat to an art thief with only the sweetest of motives, conveys a complex, diverse society without falling into stereotype. The writing is brisk and readable, and short chapters allow the plot to churn along pleasantly. An action-heavy sequence near the book’s close, involving Callahan racing to stop a possible terrorist attack, makes the following quieter resolution of the book’s central mystery feel slightly rushed. A few short segments describing Callahan’s attacker back in Chicago feel out-of-place and unneeded. Callahan himself is an appealing character—no-nonsense, smart, and in denial about how deeply the Chicago attack hurt him—but some moments of impulsive behavior (breaking into a home without a warrant, for example) feel unconvincing for such a thoughtful man. Despite these issues, the book remains well-plotted and highly enjoyable.
A well-written mystery about a unique community imbued with a palpable sense of place.Pub Date: June 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9985119-1-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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