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
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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