With varying degrees of success as a ghost story, vampire mystery and family drama, this story is solid but unremarkable.
Paranormal mystery meets family drama in a fictionalized, modernized exploration of a historical suspected vampire tragedy.
Over 100 years after the Mercy Brown vampire incident in Exeter, R.I., Mercy's fictional modern relative re-opens the case. Haley, a 14-year-old doing a family-history project for school, picks Mercy not just because of the fame of the case or that she was an alleged vampire, but because of her own grieving. Along with the stresses of fitting into a new family structure—her parents are divorced, bringing a stepmother and 2-year-old half-brother into her life—she also grieves the looming death of her terminally ill, favorite cousin, Jake, whose medical mystery no doctor has been able to diagnose or treat. A mysterious, standoffish older relative, Aunt Brown, provides a family tree and haunted glove that serve as evidence and a way to connect with the ghosts of the family's past. While simplified and repetitive sentence structures deflate tension from some of the scarier moments, Thomson (Dragon's Egg, 2010, etc.) generally writes a likable and appealing lead character, capturing both Haley's grief over her family and her difficulties finding where she fits into their lives.
With varying degrees of success as a ghost story, vampire mystery and family drama, this story is solid but unremarkable. (historical note) (Paranormal mystery. 11-17)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-934031-36-0
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Islandport Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
A tranquil story about Jonathan and his two secrets: “One is buried in a patch of sunny earth. The other was buried in a patch of evening mist.” The secret in the sunny patch is a sunflower. The other secret appears to be a second flower—a night-blooming cereus or a queen of the night? When the big day comes, Jonathan and his whole family stand in awe, mouths agape at the “flashiest flower” sister Kate has ever seen. Come night, Jonathan creeps down stairs and is joined by his father outside. There the second secret unfolds: It is not a different flower at all, but the sunflower by night, radiant still. The mystery of night adds a note of excitement to Jonathan’s secret, but not enough to strain the lullaby sweetness of this story. Every page is enhanced by Lambert’s soft pastels. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: June 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-899607-98-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
Since the possibility that Woods will kill off virtually his entire stable of regulars (Unnatural Acts, 2012, etc.) is too...
What chance does a cabal of bombers have against New York uber-lawyer Stone Barrington; his ex–NYPD partner, Lt. Dino Bacchetti; the CIA’s Holly Barker; head of MI-6, Felicity Devonshire; CEO of Strategic Services, Michael Freeman; Woodman & Weld attorney, Herb Fisher; President Will Lee; and his wife, Katharine, Director of the CIA?
Determined to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden, an agent calling himself Algernon has recruited a Pakistani nuclear scientist gone freelance and a trio of lower-level experts to sneak a bomb into the new Los Angeles hotel where President Lee is to meet with his Mexican counterpart for some high-level talks. It’s their bad luck that from a distant cellphone conversation in a foreign language, the NSA’s computers pick up two English words: “The Arrington.” The Arrington just happens to be the brand-new hotel memorializing the late actress Arrington Carter, co-owned by Stone, Strategic Services and Superlative Hotel Management, that’s about to open by playing host to the two heads of state and incidentally, a rare concert by Hollywood musical star Immi Gotham. Algernon estimates 2-3 million fatalities from the blast, but that’s only if he and his minions can embed themselves in trusted positions in the hotel, smuggle in the nuclear device’s component parts, assemble, arm and detonate it, all without arousing enough suspicion to be unmasked. What are the odds?
Since the possibility that Woods will kill off virtually his entire stable of regulars (Unnatural Acts, 2012, etc.) is too remote to generate much suspense, fans of this series are left to enjoy the sex, the bling and the reassurance that in Stone’s world, “Sometimes everything goes right” with less effort, error and complexity than you could ever hope for in real life.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-399-15984-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
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