by Steven C. Brandt ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2015
A promising start that could use another edit.
A geologist finds gold-mining adventure in Brandt’s debut novel.
Mark Mackenzie, a rising geology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, has a beautiful young lover named Ursula Sadler, heiress to the Sadler Corporation, long a Reno institution. Frank Adams, an old prospector with whom Mark has become friendly, thinks he can find the legendary Lost Pants gold mine, located, he thinks, near the headwaters of a river on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. “I need your help to pull it off,” Frank tells Mark. “I’m too damn old to go it alone, and I am essentially broke. The story of my life.” So he, Mark, and Mark’s flaky younger brother, Quid, traipse into the High Sierra in search of it. Mark wants to get and sell enough gold so he’s no longer intimidated by Sadler money; Frank wants to satisfy his belief that the mine actually exists; Quid just wants money, lots of it. They locate the Lost Pants—or, anyway, some abandoned mine—and find “free” (unbound) gold lying about, some old tools, and a skeleton. Then three banditos show up, though Quid gets the drop on them and sends them packing (we haven’t seen the last of them). Winter sets in, and an earthquake shakes things up. The trio goes back and forth, hoping some research will help their mission. Meanwhile, old Reinhold Sadler dies, so Ursula takes charge and has to save the shaky Sadler enterprises, at which point the narrative action swings between dangerous gold mine and tense boardroom. Details about gold mining and business maneuvering show Brandt at his best. Does it all work out in the end? Mostly, though Brandt leaves some questions unanswered: where did Quid and his latest girlfriend fetch up? Whose skeleton was that? Was the mine, in fact, the Lost Pants, and was it really salted? In the crowded plot, unnecessary details pop up—Goldman Sachs, readers are reminded, is “a multinational investment firm”—and word choice can be off target. But this is more entertainment than serious novel, and the story moves at a smart pace while delivering some solid thrills.
A promising start that could use another edit.Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5084-1939-6
Page Count: 452
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
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A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Lisa Jackson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2013
You’ll need your own detective’s notebook to keep tabs on all the characters and connections on display here. Even so,...
A tenacious reporter won’t let personal ties to a decades-old case stop her from finding the truth.
On the advice of her agent, Savannah Sentinel reporter and author Nikki Gillette is looking for fodder for her latest true-crime novel when she realizes that the perfect subject is about to be released from prison. Savannah’s notorious Blondell O’Henry has been locked up for some 20 years for the murder of her oldest daughter and Nikki’s childhood friend, Amity. Now that Blondell’s son Niall has recanted the testimony that put her away all those years ago, it looks as if she’ll be a free woman unless Nikki’s fiance, Detective Pierce Reed, can find a reason to keep her detained. Pierce and Nikki both work to discover what happened years ago at that cabin in the woods, though Pierce bridles at Nikki’s rather unconventional—all right, illegal—research methods. It seems to Nikki that the more she investigates, the more connections she discovers to her own family, beginning with the fact that her Uncle Alex was the original defense attorney on the case. But all of these uncomfortable connections make Nikki still more determined to learn the truth, even if she doesn’t like what that may mean.
You’ll need your own detective’s notebook to keep tabs on all the characters and connections on display here. Even so, Jackson (You Don’t Want to Know, 2012, etc.) shows a mastery of the true-crime thriller formula that will please fans.Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5858-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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