A thrilling tale that delves into the family dynamics and challenges of running a business.
In this novel, ambition and greed cause a family to split apart, resulting in suffering that will last for decades.
From when they were children, Rudi and Gus Considine could not have been more different. While Gus did well in school, encouraged by his father to get a good education—eventually studying marketing—Rudi was the opposite. He left school at the age of 13 after receiving horrible, violent punishment from his teachers in response to his inability to read. He pleads with his father, Malachi, to let him work in his butcher shop and picks up the trade quickly. Soon, Rudi finds new and innovative ways to grow the business. He opens a meat-packing plant and several shops, eventually forging Hawthorne Meats Limited, using his keen business instincts as well as his fearsome determination. Rudi’s ambition soon brings him to the decision that he needs Malachi to use his land and home as collateral for bank loans to expand the business. Unfortunately, Malachi wants no part of this plan and Gus also rejects the idea, which ignites Rudi’s fierce anger and temper. Then Rudi’s friend and personal assistant, Kevin Quilty, speaks to his boss about a hypothetical strategy involving hiring someone to kill a person and using the family’s meatpacking facility to get rid of the body. Not long after the exchange, Rudi’s wife, Penny, finds Malachi at a hospital, dying of a gunshot wound. Following the funeral, Rudi approaches his brother about selling Malachi’s land to help the business and Gus once again refuses. In this novel, McKenna skillfully weaves together a story of one family through several decades, showing the changes Rudi and Gus go through and how their relationships with each other and the people around them transform through time. This is an engaging, fast-paced story filled with treachery, backstabbing, and blind ambition (“Nothing could tear Rudi away from the strategic and tactical imperatives involved in building up his business”). The narrative moves quickly and smoothly while managing to carefully construct the foundation for the brothers’ rivalry.
A thrilling tale that delves into the family dynamics and challenges of running a business.Pub Date: May 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781738541010
Page Count: 326
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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