An entertaining but uneven tale about marriage, violence, and historical preservation.
A rising power couple consider the fate of an old church in this debut novel.
For almost three centuries, St. Thomas Cathedral has loomed above the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, though it’s been years since anyone has prayed in it. The town hires the Boston-based engineering firm Hennessy Brothers to conduct a historical assessment of the property. The experts tasked with this appraisal are Carrie Medford and Jason Wiltshire, whose long-simmering romantic tension has only recently erupted into a brief courtship and a high-profile wedding (Carrie is the daughter of one of the richest men in New England). While on a honeymoon in Britain checking out cathedrals of a similar age as St. Thomas, the couple manage to uncover a massive pornography ring, making them heroes to the country’s public and earning Jason a knighthood. (They also meet an odd woman who foretells that Jason will be a “Master Builder” and “the one who will restore the holy and sanctify the holy ground.”) When they get back to Massachusetts, Jason is determined to find a way to save and renovate St. Thomas, though Carrie isn’t sure it’s possible. The project will hinge on many factors, including Jason and Carrie’s quick rise within their company; her wealthy father, a former Green Beret; and some gangland murders in China. The ambitious book flips between a few different modes: Sometimes it reads like a political thriller and sometimes a marriage story with intriguing elements of Dan Brown–style religious mystery. The novel has plenty of fun moments along the way. Unfortunately, Hill’s odd linguistic tics take some getting used to (“F-ck” appears on nearly every other page). Still, the novel’s original sin is its nearly 800-page length. Events (some of them unbelievable) keep happening, but they fail to build on one another in a meaningful way, and many readers won’t care about Carrie and Jason enough to follow them on their long journey.
An entertaining but uneven tale about marriage, violence, and historical preservation.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781998190980
Page Count: 776
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
