A madcap black comedy about family ties, real estate, and long-buried secrets.
Quirky brothers battle a mobster over the future of their family’s hotel in 1950s Los Angeles in Haddad’s novel.
The tightknit but contentious Shapiro family has been operating the small Paradise Palms hotel for decades. The property is prime Hollywood real estate, but the hotel business has fallen on hard times. The older sons—responsible David, finance whiz Leo, and stylish Aaron—plan to modernize to attract a new, wealthier clientele. When they suggest putting up a trendy new neon sign, their elderly father, Max, tells them he’s already arranged to have it done for free by Vance “Red” Gordo, a shady mobster who owes Max a favor. As the story goes on, the brothers desperately try to rein in and protect the increasingly erratic Max while clashing with the brutish Red; Max’s greedy, much younger companion, Kitty; and the brothers’ younger, dissolute sibling, Rudy. The plot springs one surprise after another as it switches between fast-moving, present-day action and scenes from the past that illuminate the Shapiros’ complicated relationships and personalities. Tough women, bumbling villains, government bureaucrats, naïve tourists, the Palms’ loyal staff members, and a trio of eccentric long-term residents rounds out the cast. The action features extortion, violence, gambling, arson, murder, and shocking revelations—as well as reunions, romances, weddings, births, and funerals. The novel is rich in period detail, from the Sputnik launch to the Howdy Doody TV series’ finale, as well as aspects of car culture, the freeway system, fashion, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The writing is vividly descriptive, snarky, and funny, but it doesn’t shy away from engaging with serious issues, such as homophobia, racism, and police corruption. Haddad’s background as an Emmy-nominated TV writer and producer is obvious, as is his deep affection for the city of Los Angeles and its history.
A madcap black comedy about family ties, real estate, and long-buried secrets.Pub Date: July 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68-433720-0
Page Count: 295
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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