Move five in Miss Dunnett's popular adventures of that 16th century Bond/Lord Peter Wimsey — Francis Crawford of Lymond and one would chance a guess the author is not castling for an end game. The King, one step removed, is the Tsar of Russia, Ivan Vasilievich, whom Lymond serves as a mercenary with his band of fighting Scots. But Philippa, Lymond's bride in name only, has returned from Turkey (events recorded in Pawn in Frankincense, 1969) to her mother in Scotland bringing with her an orphan tot whose parentage (Lymond's or his arch enemy's, Graham Mallett?) is debated from time to time. While Lymond manages a capricious and violent Tsar and consorts with the brilliant and exciting courtesan who brought him to Russia, he also guides a group of British merchants through the intrigue-ridden intricacies of the Tsar's preserves. Philippa, now in the service of Mary, Queen of England, is busy unravelling her husband's family's past, mainly in the interest of reuniting Lymond with his mother Sybilla. When Lymond reluctantly returns to Scotland and England, both he and Philippa become entangled in plots in which land and Lymond himself are the main targets. But Philippa is as wily and cool as Lymond's "clear-lidded flower-blue eyes" about which one tires of hearing, and the two are no mean hands themselves at setting traps and collecting enemy pelts. Assassins, traitors, and old enemies come tumbling down, although at the close Lymond is tricked into safety by friends and wife — (still intact). As the others in this series, multi-layered, talky, and thick with thieves but ruthlessly busy.
Pub Date: April 3, 1972
ISBN: 014027989X
Page Count: 864
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1972
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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