A protagonist whose charm and wit outshine the plot, which readers surely shouldn’t mind.
A Sarasota lawyer takes the case of a wife charged with killing her husband and gets enwrapped in a caper rife with kidnappings, gangsters, and gators in Kelly’s (The Lost Treasure, 2013) thriller.
Tommy Ails’ legal approach is a bit unorthodox. He manages to provoke the judge presiding over his latest case, which winds up being thrown out on a technicality. Fortunately, his client is a content Tony “Two Fingers” Scirocco, a Mafia head who sends Candy Wrap in Tommy’s direction. Cops have Candy pinned for the bludgeoning death of her prominent businessman husband, Stephen. Seems like a fairly standard investigation, until Tommy realizes that the person spying on his and Candy’s meeting is reputed Colombian drug lord Don CeSar. Before he knows it, Tommy’s receiving threats courtesy of a hoodlum duo that wants him to drop Candy as a client and end his association with Tony. Tony, meanwhile, finds himself a murder suspect when one of his employees takes a couple of bullets to the skull. Tommy gets helping hands from pal Detective Walter Simpson and cousin/roommate/new assistant Donny Dweed in (hopefully) exposing the real killer(s). The attorney, however, isn’t the only one in danger, as thuggish types may go after Candy, the object of Tommy’s wandering eye, or his landlady, Madge (aka Mom). The author’s quirky comedy is a pure delight, thanks to a handful of uproarious characters. Donny, for one, is truly the gumshoe, doing Tommy’s legwork for free as he aspires to be a “private dick.” Tommy, on the other hand, is the antithesis of a rugged Hollywood detective; he drinks margaritas, passes out or throws up on his own (no Mickey required), and uses a kitchen utensil as a weapon instead of a gun. Readers looking for mystery may be disappointed, because baddies are warning Tommy off the case before an investigation’s really begun. But while the murderer’s identity isn’t surprising, watching Tommy’s problems pile up, including a film festival that gets everyone distracted, is endlessly amusing. Tommy can easily carry a series—and with any luck will bring along his friends and family.
A protagonist whose charm and wit outshine the plot, which readers surely shouldn’t mind.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5001-0143-5
Page Count: 210
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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