A strongly told, well-paced, inspirational story for Christians and nonbelievers alike.
A band of Christian warriors struggles to defeat an evil warlord in a post-apocalyptic America.
In the middle of the night in April 2012, the world ended. Attacked with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, the eastern United States was destroyed instantly, and those unlucky enough to survive the assault were turned into zombies as a result of the poison in the air. In Knoxville, Tenn., a middle-aged man and a silent woman wander the streets. This unlikely twosome was brought together not only by the destruction around them, but by God himself. For Molly, belief in God was never an issue. Her faith was a large part of her pre-catastrophe life, and during this difficult time—even after a pipe crushed her throat and took away her ability to speak—she still believes. Kane, however, was an atheist when hell broke loose. With his family believed dead and all he ever knew now lost, he has no reason to believe, and barely any reason to live. God, however, has spoken to him directly, and now Kane is on a mission. Unfortunately, that mission involves taking on the sadistic, polymorphic Malak and his group of psychotic warriors called the Coyotes. Kane, Molly, an almost mythic 8-foot-6-inch, 500-pound ex-athlete named Courtland and various other crusaders for good must navigate this new world and escape the changing forms of Malak in order to establish a just society. These scenes of flight and conflict are perfectly, tautly rendered and aptly convey the fear and desolation of the ruined world. However, the reader must wade through periodic, barely concealed religious and political rants against hot-button issues such as public health care, welfare recipients and Islamic radicalism that distract from the story. In the opening pages in particular, it seems as if the book will give way to a series of authorial rants. With a dose of editing aimed at removing such passages, this book could become the first in an exciting series.
A strongly told, well-paced, inspirational story for Christians and nonbelievers alike.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463724023
Page Count: 279
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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