Next book

THOR

Man bites dog repeatedly in a first novel about canine loyalties and supernatural terror in the suburbs. The harrowing adventures of Thor, a German shepherd rescued from animal-shelter extinction by a nuclear family somewhere on the West Coast, begin properly enough. Dog lovers—or, more properly, dog story lovers—will settle in for a nice saga of Great Loyalty and Great Love as told from the dog's point of view. For a while it's safe territory. Thor spots a con man and warns the family. Thor goes to the beach. Thor copes with a tiresome adolescent. Thor eats. Thor sniffs. And the spotting, surfing, coping, eating, and sniffing are all supported with interesting points of canine behavioral psychology. But then canine behavioral parapsychology takes over as Thor and his family go to the mountains to visit Mom's rich photographer brother Ted, who's been in seclusion since his return from spooky Nepal, where his girlfriend died under extremely mysterious circumstances. Thor, who used to be crazy about Uncle Ted, senses a Bad Thing hanging around Uncle Ted's A-frame and then confirms his suspicions when he finds a heartless female corpse, a discovery he keeps to himself. Thor's well-balanced world turns upside down when the ever-more hangdog Uncle Ted comes to live with Thor's family and Thor decides he has to protect the family from Uncle Ted no matter how crazy it seems. Only Little Brother believes the dog has a basis for his suspicions, even when the family kitten is found savaged. Drive-in movie fare with no escape to the snack bar.

Pub Date: Nov. 23, 1992

ISBN: 0-312-08321-1

Page Count: 208

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992

Categories:
Next book

MAGIC HOUR

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

Categories:
Next book

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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

Categories:
Close Quickview