An intriguing tale involving reality show alliances that lacks a strong plot.
Clover imagines the combative contestants of a future reality show in this debut novel.
The year is 2056. Shots Fired in the Melting Pot is meant to be standard, 3-D hologram reality show fare, placing six unlikely roommates together in a New York penthouse to “illustrate ideological differences between passionate people.” The contestants include Litz Rack, a liberal and lascivious plumber with a checkered past; Richard Orton, the editor of Feature Films for Families and a token Republican; Jazzy Auburn Michelle, an extroverted yet insecure comedian; Fassim Johnson, a ruthless paparazzo with little concern for the privacy of others; Cody “CKB” Black, a career criminal with a knack for social media; and Stoney Akuda, a New York cop looking for a reason to deploy deadly force. They are competing for a cash prize, though each also conceals a personal agenda. Things start off with the expected barrage of trash talk and flirtation, but the situation quickly escalates as the producers throw new elements into the series in an attempt to raise the stakes even higher. With the increased spotlight, the personal histories of the contestants are drawn more and more into the mix, complicating their lives both on and off camera. It’s only a matter of time until real shots are fired and the inhabitants of the melting pot are forced to decide which of their rivals might prove most useful as partners. While the premise and futuristic setting offer the promise of satire and heightened high jinks, the novel is rather flat in its execution. Clover routinely overloads his sentences with description and exposition: “Litz noticed an intimate longing creeping across Richard’s adorable Scottish-American face as she finished listening to her voice mail with the stoicism of a true vixen.” The resulting prose is cumbersome and never fully immersive. The dialogue is not nearly as witty as the author wants it to be, and the plot developments feel more contrived as the story proceeds. A late twist doesn’t quite land, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of missed opportunity.
An intriguing tale involving reality show alliances that lacks a strong plot.Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-50725-4
Page Count: 340
Publisher: No Apologies Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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