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Shots Fired in the Melting Pot

Name: Shots Fired in the Melting Pot
Author: T.C. Clover
ISBN: 978-0-692-50725-4

by T.C. Clover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 2016

An intriguing tale involving reality show alliances that lacks a strong plot.

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Clover imagines the combative contestants of a future reality show in this debut novel.

The year is 2056. Shots Fired in the Melting Pot is meant to be standard, 3-D hologram reality show fare, placing six unlikely roommates together in a New York penthouse to “illustrate ideological differences between passionate people.” The contestants include Litz Rack, a liberal and lascivious plumber with a checkered past; Richard Orton, the editor of Feature Films for Families and a token Republican; Jazzy Auburn Michelle, an extroverted yet insecure comedian; Fassim Johnson, a ruthless paparazzo with little concern for the privacy of others; Cody “CKB” Black, a career criminal with a knack for social media; and Stoney Akuda, a New York cop looking for a reason to deploy deadly force. They are competing for a cash prize, though each also conceals a personal agenda. Things start off with the expected barrage of trash talk and flirtation, but the situation quickly escalates as the producers throw new elements into the series in an attempt to raise the stakes even higher. With the increased spotlight, the personal histories of the contestants are drawn more and more into the mix, complicating their lives both on and off camera. It’s only a matter of time until real shots are fired and the inhabitants of the melting pot are forced to decide which of their rivals might prove most useful as partners. While the premise and futuristic setting offer the promise of satire and heightened high jinks, the novel is rather flat in its execution. Clover routinely overloads his sentences with description and exposition: “Litz noticed an intimate longing creeping across Richard’s adorable Scottish-American face as she finished listening to her voice mail with the stoicism of a true vixen.” The resulting prose is cumbersome and never fully immersive. The dialogue is not nearly as witty as the author wants it to be, and the plot developments feel more contrived as the story proceeds. A late twist doesn’t quite land, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of missed opportunity.

An intriguing tale involving reality show alliances that lacks a strong plot.

Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-692-50725-4

Page Count: 340

Publisher: No Apologies Publishing

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.