A bracing combination of bureaucracy bashing and mystical mystery.
A system meant to help two young, orphaned brothers fails them in this paranormal thriller by the author of In Strictest Confidence (2017).
In 1968, fraternal twins Wayne and Mateo McBride become orphans at age 7 when their drug addict father, just out of prison, shoots and kills their addict mother. The authorities send the boys to the Bronx Children’s Shelter, their first stop in New York’s social services bureaucracy. Wayne is an angry tough guy while Mateo is a sensitive “wimp” (though he has a protector in his alter, Mark, an alternate self who comes out whenever Mateo feels threatened). Over the next few weeks, they meet the people with who will affect their fates. These include Jimmy Lee, a fledgling child welfare worker; Dr. Antonio Perez, an overworked child psychiatrist; and Bill Hael, at first a guard at the shelter and later a homicide detective. Perez makes the fateful decision to separate the twins. Wayne gets placed with a foster mother who is secretly a drug addict, and he later becomes a drug lord after spending time in a boys’ detention center. A loving couple takes in Mateo, and he flourishes, becoming a tennis star, a pharmaceutical executive, and a politician. But detective Hael is haunted by dreams he can’t explain, and just when readers think they know where the book is going, it takes a sharp turn. A psychologist and Bronx native, Canzoniero has counseled abused children, teenage drug addicts, and adult alcoholics, and his familiarity with the underfunded world of social services—and its heartbreaking mistakes—is apparent. Wayne and Mateo needed everything to go right if they were to become productive members of society, and things go wrong for them from the start as Canzoniero takes what could have been just a screed about bureaucratic bungling and gives it a twist, resulting in a lively paranormal thriller. Like all good thrillers, this one keeps readers guessing.
A bracing combination of bureaucracy bashing and mystical mystery.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 379
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.
A disturbing household secret has far-reaching consequences in this dark, unusual ghost story.
Mallory Quinn, fresh out of rehab and recovering from a recent tragedy, has taken a job as a nanny for an affluent couple living in the upscale suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey, when a series of strange events start to make her (and her employers) question her own sanity. Teddy, the precocious and shy 5-year-old boy she's charged with watching, seems to be haunted by a ghost who channels his body to draw pictures that are far too complex and well formed for such a young child. At first, these drawings are rather typical: rabbits, hot air balloons, trees. But then the illustrations take a dark turn, showcasing the details of a gruesome murder; the inclusion of the drawings, which start out as stick figures and grow increasingly more disturbing and sophisticated, brings the reader right into the story. With the help of an attractive young gardener and a psychic neighbor and using only the drawings as clues, Mallory must solve the mystery of the house's grizzly past before it's too late. Rekulak does a great job with character development: Mallory, who narrates in the first person, has an engaging voice; the Maxwells' slightly overbearing parenting style and passive-aggressive quips feel very familiar; and Teddy is so three-dimensional that he sometimes feels like a real child.
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81934-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Not without its charms and rewards; read on, if you must.
Two professors who happen to be a witch and a vampire face new challenges in the fifth volume of what was originally a romantasy trilogy.
Despite the conclusive-seeming confrontation that the witch Diana Bishop and the vampire Matthew de Clermont had with the Congregation—the governing body of witches, vampires, and demons—over their taboo relationship at the end of Book 3, The Book of Life (2014), it seems the group will not let this couple and their gifted twin children alone. An ominous visit from ravens, an invitation from a previously unknown great-aunt, and a summons from the Congregation to examine 6-year-old Pip and Becca for the often-feared potential for higher magic lead Diana to travel to Ravenswood, home of her late father’s family. As Diana connects with these new relatives, uncovers fresh secrets about her heritage, and begins to travel the first steps of the Dark Path to higher magic, enemies both new and old attempt to block her from proceeding. Like Diana, Harkness treads a tricky path that many others have attempted before her: in this case, trying to extend the magic of her epic trilogy into future volumes without it seeming contrived. The author is not entirely successful in this endeavor, alas. Book 4, Time’s Convert (2018), was a reasonably diverting but entirely unnecessary coda that mainly focused on secondary characters from the previous works. This novel returns to the original two protagonists, filling in some gaps from the original trilogy while opening the storyline to multiple future installments. Diana and Matthew have an entertainingly angsty relationship and it’s always fun to spend time with them. However, the book’s plot retravels a great deal of territory. Harkness has demonstrated enough creativity in her previous books that she could take her tale in a fresh direction; whether she will remains to be seen.
Not without its charms and rewards; read on, if you must.Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780593724774
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
