Not much of a story, but the history is vivid enough that you might want to take a ride.
Back come the fictitious Shannons to help military historian Bourne propel his saga further into the jet age (Roaring Thunder, 2006, etc.).
It’s 1955—the bloody, hot war well over, the scary Cold War at its height. Like the aviation industry, the Shannons—Vince, patriarch, war-time ace, peace-time test pilot, and later, a much respected consulting engineer; Tom and Harry, his twin sons, soaked in the gene pool, career fly-boys—are somewhat in flux, unsettled by the rapid pace of events in their field. Soviet science has them all jittery. Pushed by Khrushchev, the formidable Russians are intent on gaining the kind of air mastery that translates both militarily and geopolitically, and, to the U.S., their work is disturbingly hush-hush, hidden behind that infamous, impenetrable curtain. To meet the challenge, the American design mission must revamp itself. Better, faster jet fighters, yes, of course, but an even more critical need is for a new kind of jet spy plane—something able to soar above radar, something that can fly alone and unobserved in Russian skies, taking vital, tell-all pictures. And, adds Vince, “even more important, bring them back.” As ever, the Shannons are deeply involved—so deeply that other aspects of their lives inevitably suffer. At one point, a beautiful young wife complains that she sees her husband about 30 days out of any given year. “It’s this crazy business,” replies another bitterly. “If I had ever had daughters I would have taught them not to marry anybody in flying.” But flying is what defines men like the Shannons, makes them impossible to live with and at the same time completely remarkable.
Not much of a story, but the history is vivid enough that you might want to take a ride.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2007
ISBN: 0-765-30843-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
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.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
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