A myriad of codes and riddles provide a solid amount of enjoyment for fans of mysteries or espionage thrillers.
In Gratsias’ debut historical thriller, an anthropologist learns that his family may be linked to a decadeslong war between good and evil.
Dr. Matthias Adkins, head of the University of Colorado’s sociocultural anthropology research department, makes a shocking discovery in his grandmother’s attic. A hidden box that belonged to his late grandfather Thomas contains a photo of an unknown German naval officer, an Iron Cross, and a leather notebook with codes and symbols. He and his live-in girlfriend, Linda, identify the officer as Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, who was executed in 1945 for working against the Nazi regime, while Thomas’ codes and riddles take Matthias to Boston, Argentina and France. It seems that Matthias is destined to join the Phoenix Order—a secret group created by Canaris—to protect the order’s sacred relics. Matthias needs to find the hidden relics, but he must first elude the Sanctum, an evil society tied to the Nazi Party. In Gratsias’ historically rich mystery/thriller, watching Matthias and Linda decrypt Thomas’ coded messages is both enjoyable and intriguing (the codes certainly aren’t easy to solve), while the Sanctum’s Albert Moreno, a killer who targets Matthias, is an unsettling character made even creepier by the mystery obscuring him (Albert isn’t even his real name). The story’s pliable timeline—moving from the end of World War II to the late 1980s to 2008—complements Matthias’ global trek, as the Sanctum tracks down key members of the Phoenix Order. The narrative does unfortunately become a bit confusing when names and dates are muddled: Matthias’ birthday is initially in May but later given as January; his surname alternates between Adkins and Atkins; his grandmother’s name changes from Carolyn to Caroline and then to Cynthia, which is also his mother’s name; and Thomas’ year of death is noted as both 1988 and 1978. Gratsias clarifies a number of historical references via footnotes, while the abundance of newspaper articles, websites and Wikipedia entries that characters, particularly Matthias and Linda, peruse are properly cited, also in footnotes. The ending offers a resolution, but the Phoenix Order’s expansive background is a literary hotbed for sequels.
A myriad of codes and riddles provide a solid amount of enjoyment for fans of mysteries or espionage thrillers.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1499625608
Page Count: 312
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Not as thematically ambitious as Whitehead’s earlier work, but a whole lot of fun to read.
Another surprise from an author who never writes the same novel twice.
Though Whitehead has earned considerable critical acclaim for his earlier work—in particular his debut (The Intuitionist, 1999) and its successor (John Henry Days, 2001)—he’ll likely reach a wider readership with his warmest novel to date. Funniest as well, though there have been flashes of humor throughout his writing. The author blurs the line between fiction and memoir as he recounts the coming-of-age summer of 15-year-old Benji Cooper in the family’s summer retreat of New York’s Sag Harbor. “According to the world, we were the definition of paradox: black boys with beach houses,” writes Whitehead. Caucasians are only an occasional curiosity within this idyll, and parents are mostly absent as well. Each chapter is pretty much a self-contained entity, corresponding to a rite of passage: getting the first job, negotiating the mysteries of the opposite sex. There’s an accident with a BB gun and plenty of episodes of convincing someone older to buy beer, but not much really happens during this particular summer. Yet by the end of it, Benji is well on his way to becoming Ben, and he realizes that he is a different person than when the summer started. He also realizes that this time in his life will eventually live only in memory. There might be some distinctions between Benji and Whitehead, though the novelist also spent his youthful summers in Sag Harbor and was the same age as Benji in 1985, when the novel is set. Yet the first-person narrator has the novelist’s eye for detail, craft of character development and analytical instincts for sharp social commentary.
Not as thematically ambitious as Whitehead’s earlier work, but a whole lot of fun to read.Pub Date: April 28, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-52765-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009
BOOK TO SCREEN
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 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.
