A story like wildfire—starts cool but only gets hotter.
In McManus’ debut thriller, a blogger whose writing has been tracking an arsonist-turned-killer may be so close to his subject that he becomes a target.
Blogger Danny Kasho is the one who gave the Angeles Arsonist his name, dubbing the unknown individual known for setting wildfires in California. After 10 months of idleness, the arsonist returns, but this time there are five bodies, and it’s clear the arsonist is also a killer, having used a flamethrower to trap the victims in a cave with his latest inferno. Danny may have a scoop when friend Mark Pavelko, a U.S. Forest Service special agent, enlists his help in questioning a person of interest, arson investigator Mike Cruz. As it turns out, Mike suggests that Mark is the arsonist. The killer, meanwhile, following Danny’s blog on CODA.com, may be going after the journalist next. McManus’ thriller keeps a leisurely but engaging pace. Danny, for example, in true-to-life form, has to wait for most of his information, like the fact that the vics were Pepperdine students and there may have been a sixth person, who survived. McManus slowly and deliberately builds suspense, providing readers with the killer’s perspective as he posts comments on Danny’s blog. Danny, who has good reason to suspect both Mark and Mike of being the Angeles Arsonist, has a delectably murky back story: he knows it’s only a matter of time before someone realizes he’s the son of “Killer Kasho,” a murderer who was imprisoned years ago. Details of Danny’s family, including his mother’s abandonment of her children, gradually come to light as the story progresses. The downtempo plot pays off, making unexpected moments all the more startling, particularly when Danny comes face to face with the arsonist, in full fireman regalia, aiming a homemade flamethrower right at him. On the lighter side, heated banter between Danny and rival blogger Ursula occasionally goes on for too long. But McManus scores with his satire; Danny’s video chat appearance on an overwrought cable show is especially hilarious.
A story like wildfire—starts cool but only gets hotter.Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9964485-0-5
Page Count: 452
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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