Followers of Pynchon, et al., may find the surrealism significant. Others will find matters trying and pointless.
The tale of a serial killer morphs into an incoherent jumble of places, events, and characters.
Postmodernist Jones begins cogently enough. Deputy Sheriff Jim Doe flirts with high-school student Terra Donner as they drive through rural Texas. Then Doe’s boss calls. The sheriff is tracking a Native American who was spotted shoplifting in a local store. Sensing that Doe wants to be with Donner, the sheriff tackles the matter alone. When he pulls the alleged culprit over, the sheriff discovers the decaying bodies of two children in the trunk of the man’s car—and the suspect draws a revolver and blows the sheriff away. FBI agents in Quantico think the deaths may be the work of a serial killer who finds his young victims in towns with biblical names. The sheriff’s widow entreats Doe to track the killer, who may also have abducted Doe’s sister Jane (yes, Jane Doe). Doe and the FBI agents eventually join up to pursue their quarry across the country as the narrative spins wildly out of control. Dialogue and events become elliptical and, as in Jones’s first novel (The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong, 2000), characters’ names keep changing, adding to the general confusion, since the work offers scarcely a gram of characterization. Doe may find his sister, who really may not be his sister. A dog in a parking lot becomes a coyote, then becomes a man wearing the skin of a coyote as he glides over the cars. Mr. Rogers (yes, that Mr. Rogers) passes through. Two men named Hari Kari and Jesse James exchange lines such as “Good old 301JN” and “GB4HK . . . ,” as Jones pours on the graphic violence, leaning on fragments for dramatic effect. Lots of fragments.
Followers of Pynchon, et al., may find the surrealism significant. Others will find matters trying and pointless.Pub Date: April 18, 2003
ISBN: 1-59071-008-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Rugged Land
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A romantic suspense that skillfully balances both elements.
A successful businesswoman hires a smooth-talking bounty hunter to find a lead on her sister’s murder.
Kate Gallagher was the only one available to identify her younger sister Chrissy’s body after she was found dead, having run away from home two years earlier. Since Chrissy succumbed to drugs and turned to sex work to survive, her murder isn't taken seriously by the local homicide department. Kate is filled with grief and regret at not having been there for her sister, and she’s determined to find her killer as a kind of penance. Jason Maddox is the charming man Kate almost hooked up with at a local bar. He also happens to be on the payroll of the most successful investigation company in Dallas. He’s all too eager to help Kate out and spend more time getting to know the blonde he danced with at the Sagebrush Saloon. At first, Kate and Jason vow to keep things professional until the case is solved; there’s obvious attraction that they’re willing to pursue at a later date. But the increasing sense of danger mixed with Kate and Jason’s close proximity proves to be too heady of a combination. The tension never lets up as the pair visit seedy bars and interrogate unsavory characters. With a steamy romance and undeniably hot chemistry, the main characters are well matched. They’re both driven, slightly stubborn, and enjoy the adrenaline rush of catching criminals. Martin (The Conspiracy, 2019, etc.) doesn’t skimp on graphic, violent details as Chrissy’s murder leads her couple to something much bigger: human trafficking. Though not for the faint of heart given its weighty material, this is an un-put-down-able page-turner that’s sure to satisfy fans of romance and thrillers alike.
A romantic suspense that skillfully balances both elements.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-335-00769-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dark, quick-moving, suspenseful story stuffed full of psychological quirk and involution.
The latest thriller from Swanson (All the Beautiful Lies, 2018, etc.) is a twisty, fast-paced tale that depicts picket-fence suburbia's seamy, murderous underside.
Hen and her husband, Lloyd, have just left Boston for the tranquil burbs, and things are looking up for her. After a psychotic break sparked by the unsolved murder of a neighbor, Hen is on the mend, her bipolar disorder under control, her optimism resurgent, her career as an illustrator of dark YA books taking off. At a meet and greet she and her husband hit it off, or think they should, with their next-door neighbors Matthew and Mira, the only other childless couple nearby. But when they cross the driveway for a barbecue, the potential for neighborly coziness curdles. Hen notices a little fencing trophy on a shelf in Matthew's office and recognizes it—or wonders if she recognizes it—as one of the mementos the police reported was stolen from the murder scene in the city. When Hen recalls that the man killed was once a student at the prep school where Matthew teaches history, Hen grows suspicious of Matthew—and starts to stalk him. Is this a break in the case or the beginning of another fit of paranoia? And even if it's the former, who will believe Hen's suspicions given her earlier obsession with the case and the hospitalization it led to? Swanson is at his best in exploring the kinship—or what some see as the kinship—between artist and killer, one of the themes of Swanson's great model and forebear, Patricia Highsmith. Swanson isn't quite up to Highsmith's lofty mark, and he succumbs toward the end to a soap opera–like plot-twist-too-far...but for the most part, this novel delivers.
A dark, quick-moving, suspenseful story stuffed full of psychological quirk and involution.Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283815-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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