In this rough-and-tumble frontier story, endless layers of deceit up the ante and interest.
Opening just before Lincoln is inaugurated, this historical novel describes the world of cowboys and Native Americans as it collides with the Civil War.
In his second novel, Kohlhagen (Tiger Found, 2008) weaves a complex tale around the real-life murder of Santa Fe’s provost marshal Maj. Joseph Cummings and the thousands of dollars stolen from the Army, the church and the New Mexico Territory during the time of the Civil War. He blends fiction with reality and uses many historical characters—Cochise, the chief of the Chiricahua Apaches; Kit Carson, one of the American frontier’s controversial legends; Augustyn “Auggy” Damours, a gambler and con artist. Kohlhagen also introduces several fictitious characters, including the sassy Lily Smoot, a Santa Fe poker dealer and occasional prostitute; U.S. Army captain John Arnold, who, over time, serves as a sort of father figure to Lily; and David Zapico, store owner and businessman. In the book, this unlikely (and untrustworthy) team of outlaws bands together to pull off one of the greatest heists in American history. Their plan, however, is not without its hiccups, close calls and, ultimately, fatalities. Greed and stupidity often get in the way. But, this is not the only plot unfolding. While the plan for embezzlement slowly takes shape, we see the effects the “White Eyes” have on Native American nations. Kohlhagen capably sketches the growing tensions between Native Americans and the U.S. soldiers and settlers; among various nations, as they unwittingly enter each other’s territories due to increasing loss of land to U.S. forces; and between the Union and Confederate soldiers as Lincoln takes office and the Civil War breaks out. Throughout the novel, it’s clear that few people trust each other, and for good reason, as everyone appears to have an agenda.
In this rough-and-tumble frontier story, endless layers of deceit up the ante and interest.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0865349391
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Sunstone Press
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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