This wide-ranging spy thriller needs a little tightening if it wants to become as powerful as a Soviet assassin.
In this impeccably researched spy novel, a radio personality hunts for the answer to one of the 20th century’s biggest unsolved mysteries.
Templeton Davis, a respected talk radio host, is a happy man. Between his lucrative day job and a side job writing popular books about politics and history (as well as the occasional spy novel), he keeps his active mind busy, even if his house is lonely in the wake of his wife’s death. Then one of the radio engineers digs up a mysterious leather satchel in his Virginia backyard and asks Temp to take a look at it. The satchel bears a set of initials that immediately pique Temp’s interest: H.A.R.P. Back in his personal library, Temp researches the mysterious initials and recalls that they belong to “one of the most famous spies in history,” Kim Philby, a British spy who was recruited at Cambridge University and ultimately defected to the Soviet Union. Temp examines the satchel’s contents and discovers not only a camera, tripod and journal, but a “one-time pad” used to decipher coded messages. Temp can’t understand the coded messages on his own, but fortuitously, he hosts a retired CIA employee on his show who explains how one-time pads work. Once Temp begins to break the code, he realizes that he’s on the verge of unlocking some of the Cold War’s greatest secrets, including the identity of a Soviet spy with the code name Bunny. But will Temp be able to uncover Bunny’s secrets before he’s killed by forces intent on keeping those secrets buried? Stokes skillfully interweaves scenes from the Cold War era with Temp’s present-day investigation, which takes him from New England to England and back again. Occasionally, the fast-paced adventures are sidetracked by too much description. When Temp and his production team travel to Stowe, Vt., so that Temp can make a presentation to the Ohio chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the author spends page after page describing Temp’s preparation for the speech, his time in the green room and the speech itself. This digression and others don’t advance the story, and they aren’t particularly revealing, either. Also, because the research is so thorough and the voice so authoritative, it’s especially jarring when errors arise, such as a character who has a “flare” for language.
This wide-ranging spy thriller needs a little tightening if it wants to become as powerful as a Soviet assassin.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-1938701375
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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