South African writer Smith leaves the Egyptian sands of River God (1994) and The Seventh Scroll (1995) to deliver a breathlessly plotted, clichÇ-clogged swashbuckler of English pirates harrying Dutch traders off the Cape of Good Hope in 1667. After helping Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada, Sir Francis Courteney, his teenage son Hal, and their trusty African sidekick Aboli are roaming the seas aboard the Lady Edwinna as privateers—seamen licensed by King Charles II to prey on ships of the Dutch East India Company as part of England's war against the Dutch. After slipping past their scurrilous rival, Angus, Lord Cumbrae (a.k.a. the Buzzard), the Courteneys seize a Dutch trader and ransom its aristocratic passengers: the loathsomely fat Dutch colony governor Petrus Jacobus van de Velde; his sexy, sadistic wife Katrinka; and the mad, mustachioed musketeer Colonel Cornelius Schreuder, with whom Katrinka is having an affair. The governor whimpers, Katrinka seduces Hal, and Schreuder vows revenge. Meanwhile, Sam Bowles, a cowardly member of the crew, betrays the Courteneys to the Buzzard, who betrays everyone to Colonel Schreuder, who throws the Courteneys and their crew into prison. Sir Francis is tortured and executed, and Hal, Aboli, and the rest of the not-so-merry men are sold into slavery but manage to stage a dashing escape with Colonel Schreuder in hot pursuit. Everybody seeks revenge on everybody else; Hal discovers true love and loss and, in a stirring shipboard climax, faces down bad Colonel Schreuder in a sword-slashing duel to the death. Though Smith's 27th novel brims with his characteristic love of African flora and fauna, the clunky prose, tawdry sex scenes, and trite plotting make this well-researched, fast-paced epic nearly unreadable.
Pub Date: July 12, 1997
ISBN: 0-312-15791-6
Page Count: 554
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1997
IN THE NEWS
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.
Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.
Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.
Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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