An absurdly humorous novel of the paranormal whose enthusiasm and profundity make it truly exceptional.
In Corley’s debut fantasy/comedy, a ghost learns that the afterlife has its own unique set of pitfalls, including direct threats from demons.
When Jonah Preston sunk all his money into his Austin, Texas, home, he certainly didn’t anticipate that it would be haunted. The ghost of the previous owner, Willard Hensch, wants him and his best friend and roommate, Maxim “Max” Alvarez, to get out—and no amount of Ouija-board negotiations can change his mind. Willard even threatens murder, and sure enough, Jonah awakens one morning to find that he’s no longer in the corporeal world. Adjusting to the ghost life is initially a breeze: he figures out how to move physical objects, finds a way to communicate with Max, and even befriends an angel named Seph. His real troubles begin after he helps a few other spirits move on to “the next place.” This connects him with the Psy-kicks, a team of Ghostbusters-like paranormal investigators (soon including Max) that Jonah legitimizes by ensuring that unruly ghosts are irrefutably gone. Unfortunately, Jonah’s notoriety among other spirits catches the attention of demons. Willard continues to demand that Jonah and Max get out of his house, and he teams up with dangerous partners who are more than happy to take Jonah on. Corley’s tale is largely played for laughs; Jonah and Max drop frequent one-liners and are undaunted by the ones that fail (“Look, they can’t all be gems,” Jonah asserts). But the story also boasts its share of sincere moments. Jonah’s choice to help ghosts move on, for example, is a purely selfless one, and a lengthy final-act discussion of angels and demons is surprisingly insightful. Although it’s clear that he has some natural skills as a ghost, the way that he masters one ability is disappointingly easy, involving him recalling the 1990 film Ghost and the Japanese anime Dragon Ball Z. The story is thoroughly resolved but also offers a tease for potential sequels.
An absurdly humorous novel of the paranormal whose enthusiasm and profundity make it truly exceptional.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-692-04841-2
Page Count: 344
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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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