A measured but gleefully absurd tale with a simply wonderful cast of assorted characters.
Estranged sons of a long-dead professional daredevil clash in Stranger’s farcical novel.
Neurotic 30-something Marcus Speed exists in perpetual fear of entropy. He’s also a germaphobe who abhors others’ constant “fumbling” of the English language. Unsurprisingly, he has no friends—save his mother, Minerva, with whom he still lives in Nashville. Marcus is in for a shock when he meets his half brother, Ace Junior, an Alabama native with “bushy Elvis sideburns” who uses the word themas an adjective (“you said your mother moved over with them Arabs”). Their father, Ace Speed, a traveling-circus daredevil, died performing a stunt, driving a car strapped with a jet-assisted take-off unit. Junior and his brash mother, Bernice Crabtree, bring chaos when they stay with Minerva and Marcus, but when Ace’s band of sideshow-performer friends shows up, it may be too much for Marcus to handle. Many in this motley cast have their own troubles; there’s bad blood between Junior and his ex, who kicked him, their daughter, and his mother out of her trailer. Stranger’s story was inspired by an urban legend in which a rocket-powered Chevy Impala supposedly disintegrated its driver. It’s the colorful characters, however, who drive this novel; Marcus’ mother comes with a fascinating backstory (and a trust fund), and scenes with Marcus’ psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Clinger, introduce patients just as eccentric as the protagonist. The author shines a bright light on the notion of “freaks,” (who, in this case, seem to be the so-called normal people), who lead the most entertainingly tumultuous lives. While the novel’s abundant dialogue teems with amusing banter, the story also hits a few lulls, as in a prolonged discussion of sideshow performers that only has a minor connection to the plot. Still, engaging mysteries abound, especially surrounding the late Ace Speed’s extended family.
A measured but gleefully absurd tale with a simply wonderful cast of assorted characters.Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2023
ISBN: 9798988389712
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Old Curmudgeon Media
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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