A step down from the first novel.
In the sequel to Habsburg Honor and Nazi Duty (2014), two adversaries/colleagues again form a prickly alliance, this time on the hunt for a Nazi rocket scientist at the end of World War II.
Stephan Kaas is in Soviet-controlled Vienna trying to find and deliver a Nazi rocket scientist to the Americans, which, Kaas hopes, will help him earn a new life, burying his Hitler-era past. But he has to outfox the Soviets, who, wanting the scientist just as badly, know Kaas is the link to finding the scientist. The love lives of Kaas and former Vienna police inspector Karl Marbach also intersect, with the discovery that Anna, the woman they both loved, has survived the war but is terribly burnt. Repelled by this, Kaas turns away from Anna, but when the Soviets take her hostage—a ploy to force Kaas to disclose the scientist’s location—Marbach is on hand to help find her. Adding to the danger are the Werewolves: bitter Nazis who kidnap Marbach. A British and an American officer greatly help Kaas and Marbach, but the officers have to work carefully because the Russians are intensely suspicious of their capitalist enemies. The action in Joyce’s (Vienna: Years Ago, 2014) novel takes place against a vivid depiction of the tension and fear in post–World War II Vienna. The two Vienna protagonists also have to wrestle with their differing views of honor, the main theme of the story. Marbach is steadfastly honest and fair, whereas Kaas is happy to lie and even beat people up to achieve his aims. Unfortunately, this intriguing theme is lost in a swirl of multiple plots that can leave the reader bewildered. Character development suffers as critical moments are brushed over, even in the mission to catch the scientist.
A step down from the first novel.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tour de force.
In 1974, a troubled Vietnam vet inherits a house from a fallen comrade and moves his family to Alaska.
After years as a prisoner of war, Ernt Allbright returned home to his wife, Cora, and daughter, Leni, a violent, difficult, restless man. The family moved so frequently that 13-year-old Leni went to five schools in four years. But when they move to Alaska, still very wild and sparsely populated, Ernt finds a landscape as raw as he is. As Leni soon realizes, “Everyone up here had two stories: the life before and the life now. If you wanted to pray to a weirdo god or live in a school bus or marry a goose, no one in Alaska was going to say crap to you.” There are many great things about this book—one of them is its constant stream of memorably formulated insights about Alaska. Another key example is delivered by Large Marge, a former prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who now runs the general store for the community of around 30 brave souls who live in Kaneq year-round. As she cautions the Allbrights, “Alaska herself can be Sleeping Beauty one minute and a bitch with a sawed-off shotgun the next. There’s a saying: Up here you can make one mistake. The second one will kill you.” Hannah’s (The Nightingale, 2015, etc.) follow-up to her series of blockbuster bestsellers will thrill her fans with its combination of Greek tragedy, Romeo and Juliet–like coming-of-age story, and domestic potboiler. She re-creates in magical detail the lives of Alaska's homesteaders in both of the state's seasons (they really only have two) and is just as specific and authentic in her depiction of the spiritual wounds of post-Vietnam America.
A tour de force.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-312-57723-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
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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