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
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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