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TALKING TO STRANGE MEN

Rendell's favorite psycho-suspense technique—two separate plots that crisscross ironically, often fatally—resurfaces in this new, intriguing, yet very disappointing thriller: a long, low-key tease that never really rewards the reader's trust and patience. In one half of the novel, we meet 14-year-old Mungo Cameron, a likable, gawky lad who's one of the key players in an elaborate spy-game being carried on at two rival English "public" (private) schools—complete with codes, "drops," "safe houses," defectors, and double-agents. Currently, in fact, Mungo (chief of "London Central") has begun to wonder if smooth, sly, pretty Charles Mabledene, a recent defector from "Moscow Central," is perhaps a double-agent. (Is it Charles—or a mole within Mungo's elite circle—who has been leaking secret codes to Moscow Central?) Meanwhile, in the novel's other half, we meet 40-ish garden-nursery owner John Creevey, who's devastated by the desertion of his wife Jennifer: she has left him to reunite with the great love of her life—a creepy, sophisticated layabout named Peter Moran. John pleads with Jennifer to reconsider; he digs up the nasty secrets in Moran's past (arrest and conviction for molesting a young boy). But Jennifer remains intractable, begging for a quick divorce. How, then, do the two plots intersect? Well, John has stumbled onto the coded messages which Mungo leaves beneath a highway overpass for agent Charles Mabledene; fascinated, he has decoded some of the messages—and has decided that they must be part of a dangerous mob's drug-traffic schemes! So, increasingly unhinged and hoping to somehow harass (or worse) his rival, John puts a fake message in the spy-game "drop"—one that orders Charles to tail Peter Moran. And young Charles, who just happens to be the sort of pretty lad Moran dotes on, sets out to perform this mission brilliantly, determined to prove his loyalty to London Central. There's a grim, violent denouement to come, of course, but only after an attenuated buildup—and only involving supporting players. Loose ends abound, since Rendell has lumbered neurotic, repressed John with excess psycho-baggage: a loony best pal; a bonkers employee; and memories of a murdered sister (who might have been a secret nymphomaniac). Finally, then, despite fine atmosphere, dozens of clever touches, and considerable charm in the schoolboy-espionage, this is one of Rendell's least effective constructions: too much contrivance, too much clinical psychology, too little genuine passion or peril.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: April 9, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1987

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DEVOLUTION

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

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Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

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IT ENDS WITH US

Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...

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Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.

At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.

Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.

Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016

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