A complex political thriller for adventurous readers—and well worth the effort.
Following the reunification of Germany, the KGB recruits an operative to retrieve stolen bearer bonds crucial to Russia’s Canadian presence in this debut novel.
Kubiak’s tale combines international intrigue, the Mafia, the rise of Vladimir Putin, and existential musings on the meaning of life. After a young Romani tells Thomas Miller, “Death is all around you,” the German national receives his KGB assignment with a warning that echoes those words: “Expect trouble.” Miller, a hit man, secret agent, and deeply troubled soul, meticulously covers his tracks, ultimately arriving at a remote cabin in the Canadian woods fully armed. The plot twists and turns: Does his mission involve a war between rival mob factions? Is there another party involved? One of the Mafia groups approaches Miller, claiming their interests coincide. But no one can be trusted. Miller’s own people murder his girlfriend back in Germany, ostensibly to give him more incentive but also adding another layer of mystery: Who knew about the hit? Though the agent is described as having no soul, he goes to church at one point and later to a shrine. In both instances he engages rather prophetic priests in extensive and searching philosophical discourses. Kubiak’s unusually constructed book bounces around in time and point of view. At times, it is intimately first person, delving deep into Miller’s psyche; at other moments, it holds readers at arm’s length (“The big Benz started moving as the man reached into the glove compartment, taking out a big Beretta automatic”). The style reinforces the already deep mystery, leaving readers unsure of exactly what is going on or what Miller or any of the other characters will do next. The ending holds even more surprises as minor players turn out to be vastly more important than first perceived. The author has put together a well-written, thought-provoking mystery with political and philosophical ramifications that bear on events in today’s headlines.
A complex political thriller for adventurous readers—and well worth the effort.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5255-1858-4
Page Count: 270
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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