An immersive and affecting story of injustice and an exemplification of the unbreakable human spirit.
Two victims of abuse in mid-20th-century America fight for justice and survival.
In the summer of 1948, 22-year-old Billy Dalton is driving home through Kane County, North Carolina, when he comes across two cars blocking the road. One of these drives off as the other explodes, and Billy helps a young woman and her toddler daughter escape from the burning vehicle. Billy himself is badly burned and wakes in the hospital to find that nobody believes his story; there is no sign of the woman or her child or evidence of any cars other than his own. Racism is endemic in Kane County, as Billy, a White man, starts to realize when he is charged with drunken driving and placed in a jail, where he expresses concern over a Black inmate’s eye injury. The prisoner explains, “The jailer’s the one who gave it to me. They come get us and then take us out and beat us up anytime they want. No reason. Just because they can. They mostly leave white folks alone.” Billy is imprisoned without proper medical attention. His wounds fester, and he emerges badly disfigured to begin a new, unhappy life. The woman, it transpires, does exist. She is 22-year-old Lacey Evers, the unacknowledged daughter (through rape) of Judge Harkins, the corrupt presiding jurist of Kane County. United years later, can she and Billy find the justice they were denied? The narrative is simple but effective, buoyed by unforced dialogue that allows the story’s emotional impact to emerge naturally. Though Kane County is fictitious, the institutional corruption and power imbalance feel all too real. Unfortunately, Lubitz’s portrayal of the abominable treatment of Black people in America, a strong thematic thread throughout the novel, doesn’t quite ring true—not because such mistreatment didn’t exist but because the racial slurs are excessively softened, and Lubitz introduces a White character who helpfully calls it out. That said, Lacey and Billy are vivid representatives of a historical period that was all too frequently characterized by gross injustice. Their respective plights will invest readers in their story, and their endurance and eventual flourishing cannot help but inspire.
An immersive and affecting story of injustice and an exemplification of the unbreakable human spirit.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9798372097766
Page Count: 347
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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
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