A captivating examination of humanity’s fear of the unknown, with hints of sci-fi and fantasy.
Donovan (Conspiracy Films, 2011, etc.) ventures into fiction with this story of baffling stone globes suddenly appearing around the world and the ways in which the populace responds.
Ex-cop Rick Ballantine may have stumbled on a topic for the reality TV show pilot he’s shooting, Confirmation: Investigations of the Unexplained. More specifically, he crashes into it: a 15-foot-wide stone globe sitting on a gravelly California road. It’s the type of unexplained event the Confirmation crew fancies, especially as there’s no indication of anyone transporting the globe to that spot. Skeptics, like the local authorities, are sure there’s a reasonable explanation, even when an identical sphere appears in New Jersey. But when multiple globes crop up worldwide, civilians and conspiracy theorists flock to the sites. Rick and his colleagues—including journalist Cornelia Oxenburg and the show’s academic, Dan Knight— become the center of the media’s attention for their initial discovery. Debates on the nature of the globes are incessant, with assorted reactions: Some believe they’re a sign of aliens while others see them as a government subterfuge. But soon come the “hum-experiencers,” people who say they can hear a buzzing sound emitting from the globes. Is it a message or simply a series of unfounded claims? Despite the possibly supernatural globes, Donovan’s leisurely paced novel concentrates on the human element. Citizens in different countries, for example, presuming governments are hiding the truth of extraterrestrials, stage sometimes-violent protests. There’s likewise an exhaustive backstory; the Chinese triads’ involvement in a globe-related explosion precipitates the discussion of a 1970s Bruce Lee–imitating film star that’s entertaining but digressive. Nevertheless, the tale is at its best when presenting diverse forms of media; most chapters conclude with a newspaper article, while characters relay information via blogs, podcasts, and social media. These are sometimes-comical: DJs on a vapid radio show seem irritated that some of the globes appear outside the U.S. The ending provides a few clarifications and lingering questions for readers to ponder.
A captivating examination of humanity’s fear of the unknown, with hints of sci-fi and fantasy.Pub Date: July 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62989-950-3
Page Count: 326
Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose...
Sparks (The Longest Ride, 2013, etc.) serves up another heaping helping of sentimental Southern bodice-rippage.
Gone are the blondes of yore, but otherwise the Sparks-ian formula is the same: a decent fellow from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches falls in love with a decent girl from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches—and is still suffering the consequences. The guy is innately intelligent but too quick to throw a punch, the girl beautiful and scary smart. If you hold a fatalistic worldview, then you’ll know that a love between them can end only in tears. If you hold a Sparks-ian one, then true love will prevail, though not without a fight. Voilà: plug in the character names, and off the story goes. In this case, Colin Hancock is the misunderstood lad who’s decided to reform his hard-knuckle ways but just can’t keep himself from connecting fist to face from time to time. Maria Sanchez is the dedicated lawyer in harm’s way—and not just because her boss is a masher. Simple enough. All Colin has to do is punch the partner’s lights out: “The sexual harassment was bad enough, but Ken was a bully as well, and Colin knew from his own experience that people like that didn’t stop abusing their power unless someone made them. Or put the fear of God into them.” No? No, because bound up in Maria’s story, wrinkled with the doings of an equally comely sister, there’s a stalker and a closet full of skeletons. Add Colin’s back story, and there’s a perfect couple in need of constant therapy, as well as a menacing cop. Get Colin and Maria to smooching, and the plot thickens as the storylines entangle. Forget about love—can they survive the evil that awaits them out in the kudzu-choked woods?
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose corn syrup, stickily sweet but irresistible.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-2061-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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