Readers who enjoyed Presidential Intentions won’t be disappointed by this action-packed sequel.
A political thriller that explores the grim consequences of a cataclysmic terrorist attack on Washington, D.C.
In his sequel to 2014’s Presidential Intentions, Wood (101 Things I Want to Say…The Collection, 2013, etc.) brings back Samantha Harrison, a one-time Republican candidate for president. Now Hillary Clinton occupies the Oval Office, and Harrison has lost her bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia. With her once-bright political future now murky, Harrison considers exiting public life for private pursuits. However, Gov. Eric Cantor of Virginia presents her with a new opportunity: veteran congressman Frank Wolfe plans to retire, and he wants Cantor to install Harrison as his replacement. She quickly accepts, which instantly reintroduces her into the Washington political fray. Meanwhile, in a continuation of a plotline from the previous book, an Iranian plan unfolds that aims to bring the U.S. government to its knees. Harrison soon finds herself challenged like never before, both as a leader of a hobbled country and as a mother grieving the death of her son. The depiction of the hateful, calculating lead terrorist, Kazim Maalouff, is chilling; at one point, for example, he explains the inner logic of terrorism with a dark calculus: “No doubt you will never understand our cause. Violence is something America abhors unless they’re the ones dispensing it.” It’s not necessary to read the first book to appreciate the action of its sequel, but it will certainly help to gain a fuller understanding of the protagonist. The first installment rigorously develops the character of Samantha, revealing her political inclinations and worldview, while the sequel forces her to test the efficacy of those views in a crisis. This sequel is just as politically sharp, but it packs a more powerful dramatic punch. In the first book, for example, the terrorism took a back seat to domestic political intrigue, but this installment revolves around terrorist activity and even crescendos with it. Overall, this is a gripping read for political junkies of all partisan inclinations given its topical nature and its use of real-life political figures and issues.
Readers who enjoyed Presidential Intentions won’t be disappointed by this action-packed sequel.Pub Date: June 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1508806318
Page Count: 207
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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