Neither psychologically plausible nor suspenseful.
Urban fantasy (The Turn, 2017) and science-fiction thriller (The Operator, 2016) author Harrison steps into decidedly murkier territory with this gothic-tinged short novel.
In the three years since her mother’s death and a subsequent car accident that gravely wounded her boyfriend, Austin, gifted artist Meg Seton finds that grief, depression, anxiety, and rock-bottom self-esteem have made it nearly impossible for her to conduct the routines of daily life without being thrown into a tailspin. Then Meg’s psychiatrist, Dr. Jillium, puts her on a new medication that gives her the confidence to make instant friends with Haley and Rorry, an elegant but friendly couple who are new in town. Are they simply nice people who are interested in Meg, or are they faeries who want to steal Meg away and exploit her art? And why does Austin seem so threatened by them? A plot in which someone is either hallucinating or experiencing a supernatural event, or both, is a classic and tired trope, expressed more effectively in such works as Russell H. Greenan’s It Happened in Boston?, L. Ron Hubbard’s Fear, and Richard Matheson’s Somewhere in Time. It works best if the writer either descends into outright psychedelic imagery or constructs a consistently mundane world that interlocks with the visions. Harrison tries the latter ploy, but it’s riddled with holes. Meg is an incredibly talented painter, but she demonstrates none of the focus or pedagogy needed to teach a class three times a week. Apparently she’s being cared for by a single psychiatrist who puts her on a course of an experimental psychotropic drug with dangerous side effects that have already severely affected a previous patient—and there’s no significant monitoring, oversight by other doctors, rigorous testing protocol, or even a release to sign. There are no relatives or other friends (except for Austin, sort of) to object to this situation, not even a lawyer, which you’d expect a wealthy woman with issues to have.
Neither psychologically plausible nor suspenseful.Pub Date: March 31, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59606-896-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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