Forges a sensational protagonist and an engaging story with plenty of opportunities to evolve.
A programmer learns that the incessant hum in her ears is just one sign of an extraordinary ability in this thriller.
Lilly Hoffnung has made a living and a name for herself as a highly skilled programmer. Though she generally prefers working with established people and deep pockets, she has genuine affection for the company Exousía and its product. But the interactive, artificial intelligence, home management, and security system has a defect: It’s locking people out of their homes. Lilly is unfortunately distracted as she scours the code for a bug. The hum she’s been hearing for the last couple of years is now accompanied by headaches, and she’s shaken by a hum-afflicted colleague’s suicide. One night, when her pain is unbearable, Lilly somehow makes the hum and headaches stop. Soon a man in her dreams, claiming to be a friend, offers to help her through an apparent “transition”—involving her newfound supernatural ability. Lilly isn’t the only one with this particular talent; in fact, she encounters a group invested in studying the phenomenon. What follows is a visit to a secured headquarters for Lilly to get some answers, so long as she can survive one individual’s unforeseen, heinous intention. Schumer’s (SEAL Catch, 2017, etc.) novel is a commendable introduction to the protagonist for a prospective series. Lilly is shrewd, adept, and entangled in diverting romantic subplots. These involve unwanted advances from fellow developer Ted Hendre and interactions with friend Jim Kinard, a potential lover. Despite the steady progress of Lilly’s supernatural discoveries, the shift in the final act is jarring, suddenly introducing a villain and corresponding peril. But there are likewise tantalizing hints of espionage and that Lilly’s ability could be used as a tool or even a weapon, all of which can be expanded in future installments. And Schumer’s writing is sharp, as when the pain of Lilly’s headaches is palpably described: “It focused, narrowed to a fine point, then pierced her temple like an ice pick.”
Forges a sensational protagonist and an engaging story with plenty of opportunities to evolve.Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-9769603134
Page Count: 280
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 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
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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