The author delivers another top-notch thriller, full of colorful characters, financial schemes, and exotic backdrops.
A novel blends espionage, retribution, and economics.
In this sequel to East of Egypt (2009), the author literally resurrects David Anderson, a longtime Special Forces operative and financial wizard. David had been left for dead by a CIA assassin after his mentor, Bill Murphy, and his lover Srey An were killed in the same duplicitous mission. A cardiac surgeon–turned-monk saves David’s life. The monk’s brother is Gen. Zhao, an ambitious military leader in China. Zhao takes advantage of David’s thirst for revenge and unique skill set to inflict fiscal ruin not only on the CIA, but also the United States itself, which the general blames for the death of his son. After Zhao uses—then kills—David’s contacts in this venture, the protagonist vows vengeance. As he explains to Ming Li, Zhao’s former aide and David’s new lover, the general remains a meticulous adversary: “Zhao kills as though he is moving chess pieces and eliminating people is of no greater consequence than removing chess pieces that threaten his King.” Initially, David gets assistance from the Americans and the Russians, but changing leadership results in them pursuing the hero as well. Still, David uses his brains, muscle, and drive as he attempts to complete his operation. In his narrative, Grant (The Lebensborn Experiment, 2011, etc.) makes effective use of regulatory loopholes in the mid-2000s that allow Zhao to rain monetary havoc on America. The taut thriller is almost a cautionary tale for today’s less-regulated economy. In this second volume of the series, David continues his evolution, as his two lovers have introduced him to Buddhism’s tenets, some of which, especially karma, he takes to heart. This spiritual turn raises the question of what’s next for a man who has been so immersed in violence for much of his adult life. One of the story’s drawbacks is that Zhao and, to a lesser degree, the Russian intelligence chief, Dmitri Vasiliev, are rather one-dimensional. In addition, in David’s brutal world, intriguing characters fall way too quickly. But the author has shown the ability to create believable new players to populate his series. So it’s a safe bet that Grant will forge a strong cast for his next installment.
The author delivers another top-notch thriller, full of colorful characters, financial schemes, and exotic backdrops.Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4610-2009-7
Page Count: 286
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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