A slick spy novel and stealthy Navy SEAL thriller.
Two Navy SEALs survive a botched mission that may be part of a coverup to blame terrorists for a U.S.-sanctioned attack in Bunting’s (Welkin, 2012) thriller.
Following the successful capture of a terrorist, SEAL Erin “Scratch” Ryan is called away before he can enjoy Disney World with his family. His latest assignment, however, fails catastrophically—10 men die, and only Scratch and Kevin “Roach” Bond make it out alive. The two SEALs find evidence that the terrorists knew of the team’s mission and are planning an attack on American soil. Worst of all, the U.S. might be spearheading the strike, and Scratch’s family, on a plane to Orlando, may be in danger. Bunting’s action-crammed novel establishes its villain (or one of them) right away—a Somali pirate, who’s then taken down with ease by the proficient SEALs. A few searing action sequences highlight the SEALs, but it’s really the later scenes (forming the bulk of the story) with Scratch and Roach that stand out and not for the action, but the espionage. The two men are both intelligent and resourceful, tracking down a printing company that generated instructions for installing devices to sabotage 10 commercial jets. The SEAL duo, who, according to the news, were killed in action with the rest of the team, also contact a columnist, Robert Clemens, to ensure their version of events is heard. Tension builds when those hoping to keep the men quiet send helicopters and even other SEALs after Scratch and Roach. On the plus side, this allows Scratch to be reunited with his trained German shepherd, Striker, who becomes a pivotal character. The novel can sometimes be repetitive: Readers hear about the apparent double cross repeatedly as Scratch and Roach tell various people. Despite the “prequel” in the title, this is actually the first in a proposed series.
A slick spy novel and stealthy Navy SEAL thriller.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4937-6325-2
Page Count: 326
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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