by William O'Neill Curatolo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 5, 2018
An entertaining and illuminating romp through interconnected and delightfully suspect organizations.
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Curatolo (Campanilismo, 2013) mixes classic Mafia-fiction tropes with the twists and turns of the pharmaceutical industry in this thriller.
Jimmy Delvecchio and Frank Serono are finally on the top of the world—or close enough, anyway. As partners at the head of a successful pharmaceutical discovery company, focused on novel antibiotics, the two have managed to consistently stay on the cutting edge, despite competing with pharmaceutical giants. But although both of them are savvy in business and research, they also have their biases and baggage. Jimmy comes from a Mafia family, and although he paid his way out of the game by selling his online pharmacy, he can’t refuse when an uncle asks him for help in selling a truckload of stolen prescription drugs. Meanwhile, Frank’s life is much more conventional—until his temper gets the better of him and he goes on a crusade to debunk the snake oil salesmen hocking naturopathic “medicines” while flaunting bogus degrees. As Frank’s science blog draws attention and Jimmy nudges his uncle to sell the merchandise internationally, the two end up under fire from everyone from the mob to the government to herbal remedy schemers; they even turn on each other, and there’s no telling how they’ll get out of their many troubles. Although this novel is a follow-up to Curatolo’s Campanilismo, readers don’t need to worry about jumping in cold. There’s plenty of detail and characterization from the beginning, and there aren’t any characters or circumstances that readers are expected to know going in. Not only that, but the text relates the breadth of its subject matter in a concise way, leaving the reader with a much greater understanding of organized crime, the pharmaceutical industry, medical research and development, and the natural medicine industry than he or she did before. As a result, there’s plenty of exposition throughout, but it rarely slows down the pace of the story. Finally, the main characters are sharp and incisive, clearly demonstrating who they are and what they value in the world, making their conflicts and interactions with colorful supporting players all the more intriguing.
An entertaining and illuminating romp through interconnected and delightfully suspect organizations.Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9896566-2-7
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Bayberry Institute LLC
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Nora Roberts
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by Nora Roberts
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by Nora Roberts
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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