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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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