by Walt Branam ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 14, 2018
An intense but confusing and melodramatic espionage tale.
An American spy stumbles on a powerful organization’s secret terrorist plot in this fourth installment of a series.
John Wolfe is about to retire from the Agency, “one of the last master spies.” But on the day his farewell party is scheduled, he notices he’s being followed, and then learns a good friend and fellow agent, Jimmy Trang, is dead. Trang’s death is ruled a suicide with suspicious alacrity. In addition, John discovers his boss, T.S. Sprout—as evil as he is incompetent—is involved in a conspiracy to sell secrets to China. Sprout is in cahoots with a clandestine group that calls itself the Order of the Golden Squirrel, whose influence is so formidable it can “control, or at least strongly influence, every major country.” John encounters the beautiful and mysterious Mary Killigrew—it’s not clear for whom she works—who claims to have a list of the Order’s original members, and he’s inexorably drawn into investigating their treasonous plans. Branam (Nemesis Syndrome, 2016, etc.) continues his Wolfe Adventure Novel series, reprising a familiar cast. But unlike its predecessors, this installment gives the lead role not to FBI agent Thomas Wolfe, but his older brother, John. Thomas, “the most dangerous warrior on the planet,” is still in the mix to lend John a helping hand, as is the FBI agent’s wife, Terry. John is recruited to join the Order, but he’s dedicated to exposing its scheme to catastrophically harm the United States. The author generously packs the story with action—there’s no shortage of shootouts and fistfights—as well as romantic intrigue. But the plot feels like a self-parodying cartoon: superspies fighting supervillains with names like The Major and The Russian. The tale is also so complicated, the protagonist—the fictional conceit is that the narrator, John, is the writer of the book soon to be pulled from the shelves for disclosing state secrets—apologetically points it out: “Note: my editor tells me that I’m throwing too much technical detail at the readers and I will lose most of you.”
An intense but confusing and melodramatic espionage tale.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4582-2198-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: AbbottPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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