An admirable effort that could sway Bonds’ romance fans over to the thriller genre.
Prolific romance writer Bonds (For All Time, 1996, etc.) embraces the thriller genre in this tale of tradition, power and murder set in Arizona’s Hopi Land.
After completing an assignment in Kosovo, U.S. Customs tracker Janet Lomayestewa returned to her home on the Hopi reservation. With her she brings a newly acquired facial scar, a drinking habit and the determination to regain custody of her mentally incapacitated daughter. After yet another run in with Customs, Janet finds herself without a job. So when a woman’s headless body is discovered in the desert, Janet joins the local police in the hunt for the killer. The search is hampered, however, by the fact that new murders keep occurring, with similarly grisly outcomes and few clues left behind. One of Janet’s initial suspects is astrophysicist Jack Ripley, who, after receiving an anonymously sent copy of the Book of the Hopi, is on a quest to find the missing Fire Clan stone tablet, fabled to hold extraordinary power. The tablet and the murderer are inextricably linked, so Jack and Janet team up as their searches intertwine, becoming emotionally entangled along the way. Primarily a writer of romance novels, Bonds shows strength at developing the swiftly moving plot. She makes admirable use of Arizona’s desert landscape to create a vivid sense of place, supplemented by her thoughtful portrayal of the political and personal tensions between Hopi traditionalists, progressives and those, like Janet, who feel they hover between the two worlds. However, some cultural elements that could have more richly colored the story—food, medicine, etc.—are either only briefly mentioned or missing altogether. Bonds’ dialogue is lively, but readers may be jarred out of the story by awkward prose, clunky sentence structure and odd references. Casual references to scalping and war whoops may have been meant to be tongue in cheek, although they come off as clichés. For a romance writer, Bonds’ sexual references can be juvenile: Breasts are referred to as “tah-tahs,” for example. Readers may be especially discomfited by the opening passage, which features explicit sexuality and violence worthy of a teen horror movie, the only purpose of which seems to be titillation and shock. Once past this scene and through the first hundred pages or so of slightly flat exposition, fans of romance and thrillers will be rewarded with a satisfying, well-paced story.
An admirable effort that could sway Bonds’ romance fans over to the thriller genre.Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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