A thoughtful and often comedically sharp reflection on political corruption.
A journalist uncovers a sprawling conspiracy that may implicate the president of the United States in Rothman’s political suspense novel.
Jonathan Stone, a veteran reporter for the Washington Telegram, sets his investigative sights on a dangerous subject, Seymour “Sy” Solomon, a remarkably powerful and deep-pocketed real estate mogul who seems to be beloved by everyone; he’s widely admired for his self-propelled rise to riches and lauded everywhere for his philanthropic efforts. He’s even close friends with George McWilliams, Stone’s boss and the editor of the newspaper. Nevertheless, Stone finds it impossible to ignore the fact that Solomon, who owns half the federal office leases in Washington, D.C., keeps receiving lucrative government contracts—Stone’s gut tells him the man is a “born grabber.” The more Stone digs, the dirtier Solomon seems. For one, he has an uncomfortably close relationship with the General Services Administration (GSA), the government’s business and record-keeping agency; he also contributes campaign dollars to all the coffers of the members of Congress (irrespective of party affiliation) and maintains murky business ties to President Eddy Bullard. Moreover, an edifice Solomon built that now houses the Internal Revenue Service at Vulture’s Point on the Potomac is so poorly constructed it seems on the verge of collapse, a danger confirmed by Stone’s girlfriend (and obsessive lover of Kafka), Margo Danialson, a minor bureaucrat at GSA. Rothman unfurls a morbidly entangled conspiracy, one that includes murder, suicide, and a nuclear-energy scandal. In fact, there’s simply too much crammed into this novel, a surfeit of subplots, backstories, and dispensable characters. Still, Rothman captures the aura of dark nihilism in some quarters of the political world with great power. Here, Solomon casually acknowledges that his building will eventually fall: “Solomon shrugged and frowned like a pacifist accused of the My Lai massacre. ‘Of course it’s falling down. All buildings fall down someday. All people die someday.’” This is a riveting work, mordantly insightful and surprisingly entertaining.
A thoughtful and often comedically sharp reflection on political corruption.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9798985181852
Page Count: 345
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A pulpy throwback that shines a light on abuses even magic can’t erase.
Hung out to dry by the elders who betrayed them, a squad of pregnant teens fights back with old magic.
Hendrix has a flair for applying inventive hooks to horror, and this book has a good one, chock-full with shades of V.C. Andrews, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Foxfire, to name a few. Our narrator, Neva Craven, is 15 and pregnant, a fate worse than death in the American South circa 1970. She’s taken by force to Wellwood House in Florida, a secretive home for unwed mothers where she’s given the name Fern. She’ll have the baby secretly and give it up for adoption, whether she likes it or not. Under the thumb of the house’s cruel mistress, Miss Wellwood, and complicit Dr. Vincent, Neva forges cautious alliance with her fellow captives—a new friend, Zinnia; budding revolutionary Rose; and young Holly, raped and impregnated by the very family minister slated to adopt her child. All seems lost until the arrival of a mysterious bookmobile and its librarian, Miss Parcae, who gives the girls an actual book of spells titled How To Be a Groovy Witch. There’s glee in seeing the powerless granted some well-deserved payback, but Hendrix never forgets his sweet spot, lacing the story with body horror and unspeakable cruelties that threaten to overwhelm every little victory. In truth, it’s not the paranormal elements that make this blast from the past so terrifying—although one character evolves into a suitably scary antagonist near the end—but the unspeakable, everyday atrocities leveled at children like these. As the girls lose their babies one by one, they soon devote themselves to secreting away Holly and her child. They get some help late in the game but for the most part they’re on their own, trapped between forces of darkness and society’s merciless judgement.
A pulpy throwback that shines a light on abuses even magic can’t erase.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780593548981
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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