by William West ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2018
A potent tale of a man with intriguing powers and relatable misfortunes.
In West’s debut supernatural drama, a man with extraordinary abilities fears a palm reader’s prediction of doom.
Although Texas high school English teacher Joseph Hawking isn’t superhuman, he is capable of things that others aren’t. He has heightened senses of sight and hearing, and he can play pieces of music perfectly after hearing them once. But he uses these abilities furtively, certain that he would become a “test case” if the world knew about them. When he gives an English lecture that addresses Darwinism (a curriculum departure), students’ parents protest, and the ensuing controversy sparks media interest. He agrees to give an interview to TV personality David Snow, a childhood friend with whom he hasn’t spoken in years. A long time ago, Joseph received a prediction from a palm reader, who forecast a shared tragedy involving Joseph, David, and David’s sister Carolyn (Joseph’s ex-lover). The prophecy implied that he would meet the same fate as his uncle, who died at 29—Joseph’s current age. Complicating matters is the Bedroom Killer, an unidentified serial murderer whose latest victim has a connection to David, making him a person of interest. Joseph keeps his eye out for clues to the foretold tragedy, hoping to prevent it. Despite dabbling in superpowers, West’s story primarily deals in melodrama, which can be blistering at times, as when Joseph learns a shocking family secret or loses someone to a shooter on a college campus. The drama can also be profound, as in a surreal scene of 13-year-old Joseph having a conversation with God, noting that “some things don’t make sense.” The author treats his protagonist’s abilities pragmatically and uses them only in moderation, to good effect. Original and classic poetry intermittently appears over the course of the story, but West’s prose is already poetic on its own: “he gazed aimlessly into the hazy backyard landscape of redbud, spider lilies, beautyberry, and others he hadn’t bothered to learn yet.”
A potent tale of a man with intriguing powers and relatable misfortunes.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68433-121-5
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
by William West
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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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