An uneven but enjoyable debut that should appeal to faithful thriller aficionados.
In Williams’ gritty debut thriller, the lives of drug dealers, organized criminals, political revolutionaries and marketing executives intertwine in spectacular fashion.
In the novel’s opening, the Eighth Precinct police department in the fictional city of Salento is making security preparations for a parade to honor billionaire Russian Pyotr Ptushko. Ptushko successfully smuggled American soldiers out of a dangerous region in South Central Asia, yet his motives are dubious. At the same time, several grow houses operated by ruthless marijuana magnate Otis M. Gaverill are pilfered by a mysterious team of seven men who act with stealth and military precision. Det. Sgt. Sal Mitchell and his partner Eddie “Sandman” Sandovan are the lead investigators in the fallout of the ensuing encounters between the factions. In an adrenalin-fueled subplot, Mitchell’s girlfriend, Mya Laing, a high-level marketing executive at a prestigious advertising firm, is tasked with creating a brilliant yet inexpensive word-of-mouth campaign for a designer jean label. Mya and her team develop an intricate alternate-reality game to garner attention for the brand—a tactic that’s at the forefront of contemporary advertising strategy. This subplot provides entertaining respite from the graphic violence and language in the main storyline, yet readers may wish the two narratives intersect earlier and more completely than they do. Williams also offsets his explicit depictions with well-placed humor that only occasionally leans toward the prosaic. While this may distract some readers, the overall effect, especially in combination with the bright, lively dialogue, is refreshing. There is a well-articulated juxtaposition between the honor and restraint of the military team and the repulsive bloodlust of Otis’ group. Williams’ main characters are engaging, but, with the exception of Otis, they fail to reveal flaws or make mistakes, an omission that challenges believability. Williams leaves unanswered questions and more than hints at a sequel (a sample chapter of his next book is included). Devotees of the genre may conclude that he has provided enough to entice them back into his vivid universe.
An uneven but enjoyable debut that should appeal to faithful thriller aficionados.Pub Date: July 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-1461044840
Page Count: 458
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
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
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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