by Tarquin Hall ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2010
As tasty as Puri’s favorite aloo parantha.
Vish Puri (The Case of the Missing Servant, 2009, etc.) takes a break from vetting prospective bridegrooms to investigate a murder that defies all reason.
Once the Hindu masters taught the virtues of poverty. But in modern India, prosperity and devotion go hand in hand, at least at the Abode of Eternal Love, where well-heeled worshippers gather to revere the Maharaj Swami, who summons the Vedic sage Bharadwaja before their amazed eyes. No wonder famed Guru Buster Dr. Suresh Jha has targeted the swami in his campaign against the holy men Jha claims delude the people with superstition. Then, to the shock of his fellow rationalists, Jha is dispatched by the goddess Kali, 20-feet tall and hovering above the ground, as his fellow members of the Rajpath Laughing Club watch in horror. Inspector Jagar Prakash Singh of the Delhi police wastes no time in engaging the help of India’s Most Private Investigator. Although respectful of his ancestors’ religion, Vish Puri suspects that the swami had a hand in Jha’s impossible death. To find out how, the safari-suited sleuth must travel to the hidden quarter of Shadipur, home to Delhi’s famed magicians. While his loyal wife Rumpi stays home awaiting the arrival of their daughter Jaiya’s twins and his beloved Mummy-ji chases the thief who stole the proceeds of her first kitty party, Puri consults Akbar the Great and Manish the Magnificent to see through the illusion straight to the crime.
As tasty as Puri’s favorite aloo parantha.Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4165-8369-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010
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by Lisa Jewell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2018
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2015
A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be...
Box takes another break from his highly successful Joe Pickett series (Stone Cold, 2014, etc.) for a stand-alone about a police detective, a developmentally delayed boy, and a package everyone in North Dakota wants to grab.
Cassandra Dewell can’t leave Montana’s Lewis and Clark County fast enough for her new job as chief investigator for Jon Kirkbride, sheriff of Bakken County. She leaves behind no memories worth keeping: her husband is dead, her boss has made no bones about disliking her, and she’s looking forward to new responsibilities and the higher salary underwritten by North Dakota’s sudden oil boom. But Bakken County has its own issues. For one thing, it’s cold—a whole lot colder than the coldest weather Cassie’s ever imagined. For another, the job she turns out to have been hired for—leading an investigation her new boss doesn’t feel he can entrust to his own force—makes her queasy. The biggest problem, though, is one she doesn’t know about until it slaps her in the face. A fatal car accident that was anything but accidental has jarred loose a stash of methamphetamines and cash that’s become the center of a battle between the Sons of Freedom, Bakken County’s traditional drug sellers, and MS-13, the Salvadorian upstarts who are muscling in on their territory. It’s a setup that leaves scant room for law enforcement officers or for Kyle Westergaard, the 12-year-old paperboy damaged since birth by fetal alcohol syndrome, who’s walked away from the wreck with a prize all too many people would kill for.
A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.Pub Date: July 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-58321-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
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