A penetrating look inside a killer’s head; disquieting but insightful.
A debut thriller tells the story of a killer imprisoned in a facility that may be more barbaric than the atrocities he’s committed.
Clemensville, Texas, native Samuel Bradbury’s murderous deeds have landed him at the Criminal Zoo in Colorado. The former Supermax, the brainchild of Colorado Gov. Jon McIntyre, calls its inmates “exhibits” because citizens can buy tickets to watch them like zoo animals. Or visitors can pay more and actively beat or torture an exhibit. Samuel’s the product of a troubled childhood, a mother who abandoned her family and a father who regularly abused him. His extended family’s likewise shunned him, blaming him for the death of cousin Jeremy, who, while in a barn with Samuel, fell off a haystack and landed on a pitchfork. The disturbed Samuel has a twisted interpretation of religion, namely his focus on a vengeful God. He initially sets out to kill someone in retribution, but the motive for a subsequent murder gets a little murky, though it’s clearly from an unhinged mind. When the law finally catches up to him, Samuel finds himself sentenced to death in the Confinement Center. He can choose instead the Zoo and, if he’s able to endure visitors’ maltreatment for a year, will reputedly spend a relatively painless life in a standard prison. But there’s another option that may offer absolution. The grim story isn’t easy to digest, an unwavering first-person perspective from Samuel. It’s teeming with brutality, whether it’s Samuel’s vivid description of a murder, or a visitor, usually an incensed stranger, donning a jumpsuit, booties, and gloves—for potential spatter. McDaniel’s middle-of-the-road approach, however, is certain to spark debate. For starters, it makes the death penalty seem more humane, while some readers will likely believe Samuel deserves his sadistic experiences at the Zoo. The author’s sure-handed writing, meanwhile, is an asset; Samuel’s occasional diatribes make surprising sense, like his confusion over the Bible attributing human emotions to God (for example, jealousy). A fitting end includes a twist or two but refrains from offering a simple solution to tie up the narrative: it’s largely open to interpretation, like the never-ending debate of capital punishment.
A penetrating look inside a killer’s head; disquieting but insightful.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9974407-0-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2016
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
Although Heller creates with chilling efficiency the bleakness of a world largely bereft of life as we know it, he holds out...
A post-apocalyptic novel in which Hig, who only goes by this mononym, finds not only survival, but also the possibility of love.
As in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the catastrophe that has turned the world into its cataclysmic state remains unnamed, but it involves “The Blood,” a highly virulent and contagious disease that has drastically reduced the population and has turned most of the remaining survivors into grim hangers-on, fiercely protective of their limited territory. Hig lives in an abandoned airplane hangar and keeps a 1956 Cessna, which he periodically takes out to survey the harsh and formidable landscape. While on rare occasions he spots a few Mennonites, fear of “The Blood” generally keeps people at more than arm’s length. Hig has established a defensive perimeter by a large berm, competently guarded by Bangley, a terrifying friend but exactly the kind of guy you want on your side, since he can pot intruders from hundreds of yards away, and he has plenty of firepower to do it. Haunted by a voice he heard faintly on the radio, Hig takes off one day in search of fellow survivors and comes across Pops and Cima, a father and daughter who are barely eking out a living off the land by gardening and tending a few emaciated sheep. Like Bangley, Pops is laconic and doesn’t yield much, but Hig understandably finds himself attracted to Cima, the only woman for hundreds of miles and a replacement for the ache Hig feels in having lost his pregnant wife, Melissa, years before.
Although Heller creates with chilling efficiency the bleakness of a world largely bereft of life as we know it, he holds out some hope that human relationships can be redemptive.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-307-95994-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
© Copyright 2026 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.
