Turning once again to WW II, bestselling historical novelist Fleming (Over There, 1992, etc.) blends fact and fiction to explore the ramifications of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender through the lives of four people. His ``facts,'' however, are at the very least open to differing interpretations and may anger some readers. In Berlin, Berthe von Hoffman experiences a mystical religious conversion when she sees the horror of Kristallnacht and the bravery of a young German Lutheran pastor, leading her to become a secret agent for the German Resistance. This puts her at odds with her husband, Ernst, a dedicated U-boat commander whose unstinting commitment to his nation's cause will eventually lead him to lose his sense of honor. Shortly before Pearl Harbor, Ernst's U-boat mistakenly sinks the USS Spencer Lewis and then rescues from the sea Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Talbot. This young officer is outspoken with his doubts about the way FDR is maneuvering America into the war, putting him at odds with his wife, Annie, the daughter of a powerful Democratic pol. Both men end up as naval attachÇs in neutral Spain within months. There, Berthe and Jonathan begin a star-crossed affair, both working for some acceptable negotiated resolution to the fighting short of unconditional surrender. Ernst goes back to sea and then to a desk job high in the German Command, and Annie becomes a top-notch political reporter and eventually a war correspondent. Through a series of unlikely coincidences, their four paths cross again and again throughout the war, culminating in an improbable rescue mission during the fall of Berlin. Fleming makes a good case for the wrongheadedness of the Allies' policy of no compromise and their denial of the existence of a resistance movement. But he hurts his credibility with unstinting antagonism toward FDR and virtually every New Deal figure who appears in these pages. Melodramatic as always, but more controversial than usual. ($30,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: June 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-017709-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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