A fair thriller but an excellent satire of American media.
Crimmins’ debut thriller follows two men who survive a hostage crisis and later endure unremitting media attention as they attempt to capture a terrorist.
When recent Georgetown University graduate Tom O’Malley fills in for his boss to deliver pizza one night, it proves a fateful decision. He happens upon a group of Uzi-toting Muslim terrorists, led by a man named André Abdul, who have taken several State Department employees captive—and they add Tom to the hostage tally. He makes it out alive, but authorities remain concerned that Abdul, who escaped police, may still be in the United States. So Tom and a fellow survivor, Chilean translator Amado Salpedro, go on a publicity tour, hoping that the public’s sustained interest will help ensnare the terrorist leader. The novel becomes invested in the aftermath of Tom and Amado’s captivity, and follows them as they make the rounds on talk shows. The novel makes its boldest statements in its depictions of the media; for example, Tom and Amado begin an interview by responding to questions about their traumatic experience and end up, in a woeful but comical scene, sitting through a tacky song and music video loosely based on the incident. Tom’s back story pales in comparison to Amado’s; the Chilean immigrant, unable to find success in America, has grown to resent privileged people like Tom. Even Abdul, whose family’s estate was destroyed in Beirut, comes across as a more riveting character than Tom does. That said, Tom’s solid relationship with his girlfriend, Amy, gives him a semblance of maturity, although it’s often offset by his irresponsibility and naïveté. His conversations include stories of partying with his rugby team; at one point, he has to have the term “chop shop” explained to him, and, at another, guesses at Los Angeles’ nickname (“I think they call it L.A.”). The novel also doesn’t provide very much suspense—readers are told the exact date of another terrorist plot in the works—but the bad guys are appropriately and convincingly menacing when they finally show up.
A fair thriller but an excellent satire of American media.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1490307435
Page Count: 350
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In his quest for easy moolah, Owen learns that the road to financial solvency can be rocky and fraught with work. Greene (Owen Foote, Soccer Star, 1998, etc.) touches upon the often-thorny issue of chores and allowances: Owen’s mom wants him to help out because he’s part of the family and not just for the money—while Owen wants the money without having to do tedious household chores. This universal dilemma leaves Owen without funds and eagerly searching for ways to make a quick buck. His madcap schemes range from original—a “free” toilet demonstration that costs 50 cents—to disastrous, as during the trial run of his children’s fishing video, Owen ends up hooking his ear instead of a trout. Enlisting the aid of his stalwart, if long-suffering, friend Joseph, the two form a dog-walking club that becomes vastly restricted in clientele after Owen has a close encounter with an incontinent, octogenarian canine. Ultimately, Owen learns a valuable lesson about work and money when an unselfish action is generously rewarded. These sudden riches motivate Owen to consider wiser investments for his money than plastic vomit. Greene’s crisp writing style and wry humor is on-target for young readers. Brief chapters revolving around a significant event or action and fast pacing are an effective draw for tentative readers. Weston’s (Space Guys!, p. 392, etc.) black-and-white illustrations, ranging in size from quarter- to full-page, deftly portray Owen’s humorous escapades. A wise, witty addition to Greene’s successful series. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2000
ISBN: 0-618-02369-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
An unusual and mesmerizing novel, gracefully written and deeply disturbing.
In her first novel to be published in English, South Korean writer Han divides a story about strange obsessions and metamorphosis into three parts, each with a distinct voice.
Yeong-hye and her husband drift through calm, unexceptional lives devoid of passion or anything that might disrupt their domestic routine until the day that Yeong-hye takes every piece of meat from the refrigerator, throws it away, and announces that she's become a vegetarian. Her decision is sudden and rigid, inexplicable to her family and a society where unconventional choices elicit distaste and concern that borders on fear. Yeong-hye tries to explain that she had a dream, a horrifying nightmare of bloody, intimate violence, and that's why she won't eat meat, but her husband and family remain perplexed and disturbed. As Yeong-hye sinks further into both nightmares and the conviction that she must transform herself into a different kind of being, her condition alters the lives of three members of her family—her husband, brother-in-law, and sister—forcing them to confront unsettling desires and the alarming possibility that even with the closest familiarity, people remain strangers. Each of these relatives claims a section of the novel, and each section is strikingly written, equally absorbing whether lush or emotionally bleak. The book insists on a reader’s attention, with an almost hypnotically serene atmosphere interrupted by surreal images and frighteningly recognizable moments of ordinary despair. Han writes convincingly of the disruptive power of longing and the choice to either embrace or deny it, using details that are nearly fantastical in their strangeness to cut to the heart of the very human experience of discovering that one is no longer content with life as it is.
An unusual and mesmerizing novel, gracefully written and deeply disturbing.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-44818-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Hogarth
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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