Gregory, author of five previous historicals with feminist twists (Wideacre, 1987, etc.), offers a contemporary psychological thriller that may prove to be a crossover hit. Reminiscent of Fay Weldon's novels of vanquished women (though with none of her biting wit and satire), Gregory's book is a tight little tale of a woman tormented by her family. Patrick Cleary has always loved the small house down the lane from his parents' farmhouse. When it finally comes on the market, his doting parents decide to buy it for him—with only one obstacle to their mutual enthusiasm, Patrick's young wife Ruth. Pleased with her career in journalism, not ready to start a family, and in love with their London flat, Ruth has no intention of moving. To manipulate an intelligent woman is not easy, but subtly crafted events begin to push the reluctant Ruth into an altogether new life. Suddenly laid- off, and ``accidentally'' pregnant, Ruth finds the country house her only option after the city flat, owned by her in-laws Elizabeth and Frederick, is sold off. Elizabeth, the Martha Stewart of mother-in-laws, controls all in her line of vision, including Patrick, who epitomizes the term ``mama's boy,'' leaving for Ruth the role of baby machine. Almost imperceptibly, country life turns creepy: Elizabeth is full of enthusiasm in decorating ``her'' little house; she's rapturous about the birth of ``her'' baby; and Patrick is ecstatic in his childhood home with Mummy and Daddy there to make decisions for him. After the birth of Thomas, the three conspire to purge Ruth from the scene altogether: They get her addicted to drugs and placed in a mental hospital, where she is forbidden to see her son. As Ruth finally realizes the unnatural state of affairs and reasserts her rights, the plot tumbles to its murderous and finally disturbing end. An unblinking portrayal of psychological slavery, deeply bizarre family ties, betrayal, and courage.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-017670-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1996
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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