An often engaging tale that evokes a universal, old-gang-of-mine sense of nostalgia.
In this debut novel inspired by true events, a former New Orleans police officer recalls his life on the job and his times at a neighborhood bar with his buddies.
In the 1970s and ’80s, David McAllister and his “little band of misfits” hang out at the eponymous bar, located in the Gentilly Terrace area of New Orleans. They include the bartender Barry Christopher, and childhood friends, including the voluptuous Gertie Chauvin, for whom McAllister has an unrequited love; the ingratiating Ron; Greg, who’s usually the butt of his friends’ jokes; beer-bellied and pompadoured Jerry; and a guy known only as “the Satisfier,” who repairs cars. The author weaves vignettes and character sketches set in the Dreux Club with scenes from David’s life on the police force, which have its own cast of “colorful characters”: “We had every kind of cop imaginable. There were big tough ones, skinny geeky ones, old ones, young ones, smart ones, dumb ones, eager ones, and lazy ones. They ran the gamut.” Fenner, who writes that he was “inspired by experiences and memories of my time on the New Orleans Police Department,” clearly amassed a large cache of stories over the course of his career, and he captures the camaraderie that binds David to his friends and fellow officers. This is humorously expressed through the pranks that they play on one another, such as a bang-up gag that David plays on his training officer during a search for an explosive. (This novel’s overall positive portrayal of the police will appeal especially to fellow members of the brotherhood.) Some of the characterization grace notes are quietly moving, as when Barry confesses his difficulty with the concept of God: “I can’t visualize him,” he remarks. “The visual part is important to me.” Other themes are underdeveloped, though, as when David notes, “People close to me told me from time to time that my attitude was changing, that I was becoming cynical….Was it the job changing me? Or was I just becoming more aware of how the world really was?”
An often engaging tale that evokes a universal, old-gang-of-mine sense of nostalgia.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5320-3788-7
Page Count: 228
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
