A clean, readable Christian mystery with an unsurprising outcome.
Stewart’s novel is a classic murder mystery with a Christian bent set in an upstate New York town that is no stranger to corruption.
Heroine Kate Feeney finds herself at the center of that corruption when she stands up to the school board to protest a proposed sex education program and gets thrown in jail. It’s only the beginning of Kate’s adventures. After the president of the school board is murdered, Kate begins working with police Detective Mike Roberts, formerly of the NYPD, to track down the killer. Suspects include a wealthy sheik from the fictional country of South Arabyia, police officers who have a blackmailing operation and a local family of moonshiners. Before she can do much, though, Kate is unfairly arrested again, this time after an altercation at an abortion clinic protest. While being transported in the back of a police cruiser after her arraignment, Kate manages to avoid being raped by a corrupt cop. She flees to the woods when she hears shots fired, only to come out and find the cop dead. Although she saw nothing, she heard the killer’s voice, and this makes her a target for the unknown murderer who tries more than once to bring down the gutsy woman. A number of twists and turns produce an action-packed story, and thanks to the relationship between Kate and Mike, there’s a hint of romance. Though Kate and Mike are baffled, regular mystery readers will likely deduce the killer’s ID thanks to a few subtle hints. The story is marred by clunky dialogue that is asked to carry too much of the back story, such as this comment made by Mike: “Because my mother’s suicide was caused by mental instability, your childhood abuse makes me afraid you might become mentally unstable. I’m worried that your risk-taking is a suicidal impulse.” Nonbelievers may wonder if Kate’s prayers are falling on deaf ears when they see she must fight off a rapist, gets kidnapped by a sheik and both her aunt and her dog get shot, but Christians will likely admire her steadfast faith.
A clean, readable Christian mystery with an unsurprising outcome.Pub Date: June 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1477429365
Page Count: 328
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A product less than a book; those with not enough time on their hands might spend what they have more meaningfully elsewhere.
Treacly fable by pop inspirationalist Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie, 1997, etc.).
Dava Sobel and Longitude be damned, God doesn’t like people who measure things. Six thousand–odd years ago—is the date a nod to Archbishop Ussher and his proto-creationism?—a fine young fellow named Dor invents the world’s first clock and is banished to a cave for the affront, since only the deity is supposed to be concerned with such things, it being the days before hourly wage work and lawyers who bill in 15-minute increments. Dor now sits in a cave, “listening to something. Voices. Endless voices.” And what do you suppose those voices want? Yup, time. More of it. Endless time. Or at least a year or two. Writing in his customary staccato (“But Father Time is real. And, in truth, he cannot age.”), Albom gives Dor a chance to redeem himself by instructing two hapless earthlings—a man dying of cancer, a teenage girl in danger of dying by her own hand—in the meaning of life. The Little Prince it ain’t: Albom seems to have taken the template for his novel from a corporate report, each page studded with boldfaced passages that would seem to signal something momentous; a person in a hurry could well read just those boldfaced passages and emerge with a pretty good idea of the storyline, which is plenty predictable in any event. Still, there are a few useful takeaways, among them these: If you’re moribund, a pocket watch will cheer you right up; if you’re worried about the prospect of imminent demise, then remember that, as the old dude who cometh from God’s side sayeth, immortality “is not a gift.”
A product less than a book; those with not enough time on their hands might spend what they have more meaningfully elsewhere.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4013-2278-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
A masterful, original take on a beloved fairy tale is sure to please romance readers.
A gender-swapped “Cinderella” about an heiress and a custodian in 1832 London.
After her father’s untimely death, Isabella Lira must marry to secure her family’s business and standing. Her father sat on the London Commission of Delegates, an organization that works with the Crown for the safety and security of the entire Jewish community in England, while also co-owning a business with the powerful Berab brothers. The three brothers each offer to marry her, hoping to secure total control of the shared business. Isabella wants to preserve her own influence in the company, so she hatches a plan to find another suitor—one outside the sphere of the Berab family. She's going to throw three festivals in three weeks, between the holidays of Passover and Lag b’Omer, and she enlists the help of Aaron Ellenberg, an unlikely ally. Aaron exists in a strange liminal space in the community: He’s a kindhearted and gentle man who has never successfully found a job or home of his own. The community supports him by providing work as a custodian in the synagogue. He has become expert at observing everyone and everything while remaining invisible in the background. Isabella asks him to spy on prospective suitors at her parties to help her find one who won't try to control her—a man with a secret that Isabella could hold over him. In return, she offers Aaron 200 pounds, enough money for him to have a home and family, which had always seemed like an impossible dream. Isabella and Aaron should have nothing in common, but while working together they learn to respect and love each other despite their differences in status and the many obstacles in their way. It’s an engaging and sexy romance, almost old-school in its complexity, complete with genuine conflict, delicious tension, and dense, meaty subplots.
A masterful, original take on a beloved fairy tale is sure to please romance readers.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781538722541
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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