As hinted in the title, Francis has altered his formula a bit this time. Instead of one decent, reluctant hero, here there are two: the Derry brothers, who fight the same monster-villain. . .but 14 years apart. First we meet 30-ish narrator Jonathan Derry, a physics teacher who is given some computer-tapes (for safe-keeping) by a pal. And when the pal promptly dies in a boat explosion, a couple of thugs pay Jonathan a visit—who, since he happens to be an Olympic marksman, fends them off with a gun. What's on these precious tapes, then? Well, as Jonathan sleuthfully discovers, the tapes contain a fool-proof horserace-betting system—stolen from an ancient widow (her gambler-husband created the system). So Jonathan tries to keep the tapes from the thugs—but thug Angelo, who has already killed at least once in his tape-pursuit, now takes Jonathan's wife hostage; and our ingenious hero must use both physics and marksmanship to rescue wife Sarah (along with their rocky relationship) and get Angelo sent to prison. The end? Hardly. Suddenly it's 14 years later, Jonathan is teaching in California, but his kid brother William (now 29) is in England, managing the many racehorses of an American tycoon. And when raging bull Angelo is released from prison, monstrously vengeful, he goes after nartutor #2 William—who decides to try to make permanent peace: he bashes Angelo, locks him in a cellar, gets hold of those notorious tapes (which Jonathan long ago gave to a schoolteacher chum), and gives them to the now-subdued Angelo. The end? Not quite. Because, unbeknownst to William, those tapes are fatally flawed, and Angelo soon believes that William has tricked him—which means that there's more mayhem ahead before the Derrys can rest easy. True, as you may have gathered, the horses are pretty much in the background this time (though nicely so). And there's a thinness of emotional texture in the blow-by-blow second half. (One can't help wondering how much more powerful the book would have been if Jonathan were killed by Angelo.) But, if not as informative or affecting as prime Francis, this is topnotch, nonstop entertainment: ironic, clever, exciting, and—even when rip-roaringly violent—thoroughly warmhearted.
Pub Date: April 16, 1982
ISBN: 0425198774
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1982
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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