Drugs, politics, a bit of sex, and a lot of archaeology provide the international thrills in an international thriller by the author of The Missing Sixth (1992), etc. Crossing the English Channel on a clapped-out ferry, mysterious pilot and international femme fatale Jaymin Bartel is witness to highly suspicious behavior on the part of a Middle Eastern passenger. The young man accosts an attractive preteen and forces her to accept a metal cylinder, which, following orders, she tucks into her backpack. Following that odd bit of business, the potential terrorist proceeds to sink the ferry by opening the doors several hundred yards short of Dover. After dramatically rescuing numerous passengers, Jaymin pairs up with renowned American archaeologist Stephen Kaine, the understandably distressed father of Angela, the girl with the metal tube in her backpack. Together, Stephen and Jaymin and a gruff but kindly Scottish tugboat skipper effect the rescue of Angela from the ferry's submerged loo. In the beginning of a seemingly endless string of eerie coincidences, it turns out that Jaymin, to whom Stephen is powerfully attracted, is working for people who want very much for Stephen not to have that metal tube that was rescued along with Angela. The tube contains an ancient map of the long-lost Turko-Persian city that Stephen found and from which he was removed under shocking circumstances. If the map is to be believed, Stephen could clear up some 3000-year-old hanky-panky on the part of the Persian monarchy. But any clearing up of mysteries will be dependent on Stephen and Angela's survival in the face of relentless, murderous pursuit by Jaymin's employers- -a team of wickedly bent American spies and diplomats who have been working a deal to swap antique gold for present-day opium. Jaymin's flying skills will eventually become crucial. A rousing beginning degenerates into a long and not very exciting series of well-timed and eventually predictable coincidences amidst some attractive scenery.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-670-84870-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
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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