Gorgeous archaeologist in formula thriller peril—thanks to the discovery of a WW II bomber, buried for 50 years in the sands of New Mexico, and the unraveling of a heinous military-industrial conspiracy. Prof. Nickolette (``Nick'') Scott—Berkeley, untenured—is spending the summer in the brutally hot Badlands, helping her famous father excavate ancient Indian ruins. But Nick's own passion is digging up the recent past—so she can't resist the challenge when old prospector Gus Beckstead claims that he's uncovered the wing of an airplane. It's an incredible find: an American B-17, with 11 dead bodies aboard (the ten-man crew plus one mystery passenger), which was somehow shot down over the US circa 1945! Before Nick can begin the dig in earnest, however, the novel's cartoonish mega-villain—billionaire Leland Hatch, who ``owns'' numerous generals—sets a massive, often implausible coverup in motion. Beckstead is murdered; the B-17 disappears virtually overnight; Nick's academic career is sabotaged. Unfazed, as additional bodies drop around her, she sets out on a quest (guided by a diary found on the plane) to learn the how and why of the B- 17's downing. These opening chapters are fairly promising—with intriguing details of archaeological procedure, persuasive desert- town atmosphere, and that buried plane with its mummified crew (the WW II secret itself—involving Los Alamos and a foiled bit for peace—is serviceable enough). But Nick doesn't hold much character interest, despite some psychological wrangling about her dysfunctional mom and workaholic dad, so it's quite a wait for the conclusion—a painfully contrived death-duel in the desert between intrepid Nick and old Leland Hatch himself. Despite all the appeals, first-novelist Davis brings little conviction, and no originality, to conspiracy-suspense gambits limply reminiscent of Days of the Condor, Pelican Brief, and everything in between.
Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1996
ISBN: 0-312-14437-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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