A dark, gripping historical thriller.
A Jewish family’s courageous defiance of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris sets the stage for a tale of intrigue and danger in Grubman’s debut novel.
In 1942, Mori Rothstein is a successful French art dealer whose clients include some of the wealthiest families in the City of Light. His expertise in the works of the masters has gained him a loyal following and has given him the means to provide for his family. Things change suddenly, however, when Hermann Goering—the head of the Nazi Gestapo and one of the most feared men alive—seeks out Mori’s knowledge. Adolf Hitler is eager to open a museum in Austria that will feature the most renowned works of classical art, and Goering makes it clear that Mori has no choice but to cooperate with him on the project. Mori must help to identify the most prized paintings for Hitler’s museum or be deported. This is easier said than done, however, as German soldiers have already amassed a vast quantity of stolen art, and more arrives every day. After Mori begins to recognize artworks that he sold to others long ago, he devises a daring plan with the help of his son, Émile, to smuggle the precious paintings out of the Nazis’ clutches. But after a high-ranking German officer is killed, the Rothsteins find themselves on the run. The descriptions of life in Paris under Nazi rule are evocative and frightening: “As they headed toward the Tuileries, Émile wondered why that soldier kept following the two of them.” Grubman’s portrayals of his characters are complex and realistic; Mori’s wife, Ruth, for example, ends up playing a critical and satisfying role in the family’s fate. The dialogue feels intimate and conversational, as if one is privy to secret conversations. In one particularly suspenseful scene, Mori attempts to fool Goering with a forgery of a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. As the Nazi takes his time inspecting the sketch, readers will hold their breath: “Mori felt his throat constrict. He’s taking too long, he thought.”
A dark, gripping historical thriller.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73261-000-2
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Dupapier Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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