In this debut medical thriller, a pair of Afghanistan War vets investigates mysterious deaths at a research center developing a new rabies vaccine.
Two and a half years ago, in the desert outside Kandahar, a bomb blast rocked the mobile communications van run by Capt. Alton Blackwell of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Only he and Sgt. Zach Lambert, who was off shift at the time, survived. Working through physical therapy, Alton healed with a limp. Reassignment to desk duty in Kabul’s Command and Control division should have been torture, but his friendship with military accountant Mallory Wilson kept him optimistic. Now, Alton and Zach work in Georgia for the telecom security firm Kruptos Inc., and Mallory works for the FBI in Washington, D.C. She and Alton don’t reunite until strange cases of hemophilia—a bleeding disorder—break out near the Georgia-North Carolina border. Zach, who goes camping in the quiet, supposedly secluded area, discovers the source firsthand; scientists from Research Triangle Park spray him with the airborne—as well as still experimental and potentially deadly—Rabinil vaccine. With a craving for justice, Alton the cryptographer and Mallory the forensic accountant team up to investigate the fallout. They follow winding paper and electronic trails while dodging agents with a murderous agenda. Readers will be absorbed by Freeman’s never-flashy expertise: “I have a ‘rabbit hole’ application that...bounces your [laptop’s] signal all over the planet and...renders our current location untraceable for a little while.” The motives of scientists and federal employees are tightly interlocked, and humor peppers their conversations. For instance, when a man named Perkins says that Mallory is cute, Alton says, “No, she isn’t your type.” “What is her type, bro?” Perkins asks, to which Alton replies, “Intelligent.” Occasionally, superb touches of eeriness creep in: “dried leaves blowing across the parking lot began to form patterns, and the details of the investigation soon filled his mind.” One minor failing, however, is that Freeman introduces his principal characters primarily by telling readers about them rather than using dialogue and plot to flesh them out.
A heady thriller that gathers force with the understated menace of a tidal wave, then smashes home.Pub Date: March 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482048469
Page Count: 174
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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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
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Privileged 30-somethings hide from their woes in Nantucket.
Hilderbrand’s saga follows the lives of Melanie, Brenda and Vicki. Vicki, alpha mom and perfect wife, is battling late-stage lung cancer and, in an uncharacteristically flaky moment, opts for chemotherapy at the beach. Vicki shares ownership of a tiny Nantucket cottage with her younger sister Brenda. Brenda, a literature professor, tags along for the summer, partly out of familial duty, partly because she’s fleeing the fallout from her illicit affair with a student. As for Melanie, she gets a last minute invite from Vicki, after Melanie confides that Melanie’s husband is having an affair. Between Melanie and Brenda, Vicki feels her two young boys should have adequate supervision, but a disastrous first day on the island forces the trio to source some outside help. Enter Josh, the adorable and affable local who is hired to tend to the boys. On break from college, Josh learns about the pitfalls of mature love as he falls for the beauties in the snug abode. Josh likes beer, analysis-free relationships and hot older women. In a word, he’s believable. In addition to a healthy dose of testosterone, the novel is balanced by powerful descriptions of Vicki’s bond with her two boys. Emotions run high as she prepares for death.
Nothing original, but in Hilderbrand’s hands it’s easy to get lost in the story.Pub Date: July 2, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-316-01858-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2007
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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