A brisk, entertaining story of feuding youngsters and adults alike.
A string of crimes and accusations turns residents of a small Virginia town against one another in this sequel.
Twelve-year-old Billy Gunn has had more than enough adventure during his 1955 summer vacation. After braving an abduction and a sniper stalking the town of Highland, he and bestie Kent Clark just want to enjoy their freedom before seventh grade starts. But bullies won’t let that happen; they knock the friends around and take off on their bikes. Of course, the bullies deny stealing anything, sparking back-and-forth finger pointing, intimidation, and revenge-fueled attacks. Even Billy’s dad, who runs a garage and towing business, calls in his Army pals to help out. Meanwhile, Matt Cubley, Billy and Kent’s boss at Cubley’s Coze Hotel and Resort (where the boys wash guests’ cars), takes over the unexpectedly vacant office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney. He’s been a lawyer before, but now he’s facing numerous criminal cases, including murder, bootleggers, multiple shootings, and the racist beating of a local Black pastor. Much of the mess revolves around Big John McCulloch, who owns most of Highland and has the town cops in his pocket; his son is the much despised recently appointed chief of police, and his grandson is one of the bullies. Ultimately, the working-class townsfolk find themselves pitted against Big John and his loyal cronies, with a “class war” seemingly on the horizon. As Matt tries to solve the recent crimes, he, Billy, and Kent hope they can somehow ease the tension threatening to tear Highland apart.
Armstrong’s follow-up picks up right after A Serving of Revenge (2020) during the same mid-’50s summer. It has a surfeit of allusions to the preceding installment, such as Billy’s listing the bullies’ vicious assaults across both novels. These references are sometimes overwhelming, though readers new to the series certainly won’t be lost. Despite its length, this sequel keeps things popping; scenes bounce among the tweens and bullies, Matt in the courtroom, and locals engaging in gunfights. Immensely likable Billy and Kent will easily charm readers and win sympathy. Kent, for example, is awful at lying, as in his hilarious claim that he hasn’t seen someone: “I never saw him, not one time, and that’s the truth.” Other characters, however, are a mixed bag. Billy’s kindhearted mother dotes on both her son and Kent, constantly correcting Billy when he says “ain’t” or a double negative. Contrarily, his father is frighteningly violent; his arguments quickly turn physical, and he’s disciplined Billy with a much-feared belt against the back. No one, at least in this novel, really calls out this man on how he treats his young son. Armstrong zeroes in on the town in disarray; it’s more about the culmination of crimes than solving individual ones, such as unmasking a killer. There’s nevertheless some mystery, involving issues from a couple of missing people to the identity of the sniper who shot a child. The book ends with plenty of avenues for another sequel, which could very well see Billy and Kent in a classroom.
A brisk, entertaining story of feuding youngsters and adults alike.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
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