A fine procedural augmented by beefy subplots and a pitiable villain.
In the latest installment of Williams’ (Ace, 2015, etc.) thriller series, police detective Salvador Mitchell dodges assassins and deals with a surprise inheritance while a grieving father plans an explosive retribution.
Mitchell is understandably taken aback by the news of his mother Cora’s death in a helicopter crash in Costa Rica. But he’s outright shocked when attorney V.E. McNamara informs him that Cora’s estate, to which Mitchell’s entitled, is worth anywhere from $10 million to $30 million due to the respect that her paintings have garnered in the art world. A condition of the inheritance, however, is that Mitchell must leave his job as a homicide detective in the city of Salento, which he isn’t ready to do. His girlfriend, Mya Laing, would prefer that he turn in his shield, especially when it’s clear that people are trying to kill him—likely gang members seeking revenge for their boss’s death. Meanwhile, retired city engineer Kerak Daniluk is still mourning his engineer son, Wil, who died in an allegedly job-related accident. Kerak is distraught over the city’s apathetic handling of Wil’s death, so he plots vengeance, slowly amassing components for explosives—and his path soon crosses with Mitchell’s. Despite the presence of returning characters, including Mitchell, Laing, and Mitchell’s partner, Eddie “Sandman” Sandovan, the standout in Williams’ fourth series entry is Kerak. Despite his terrible goals, he’s quite sympathetic, and his plan is so methodical that the story never lingers on its potential malice. When it appears that nosy hunters might catch on to what Kerak’s doing, readers will see them more as obstacles than as potential heroes. Other assorted subplots, including one involving Laing’s ad-executive job, eventually tie into the main storyline, as well, sometimes in unexpected ways. Mitchell himself proves capable when facing hit men, but there’s only a modicum of detective work this time around given everything else that he has to deal with. Williams’ vivid descriptions also leave their mark: “The cityscape was a gallimaufry of varying architectural styles and lighting…bright white metal halides sparkled like diamonds.”
A fine procedural augmented by beefy subplots and a pitiable villain.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5455-4841-7
Page Count: 330
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose...
Sparks (The Longest Ride, 2013, etc.) serves up another heaping helping of sentimental Southern bodice-rippage.
Gone are the blondes of yore, but otherwise the Sparks-ian formula is the same: a decent fellow from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches falls in love with a decent girl from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches—and is still suffering the consequences. The guy is innately intelligent but too quick to throw a punch, the girl beautiful and scary smart. If you hold a fatalistic worldview, then you’ll know that a love between them can end only in tears. If you hold a Sparks-ian one, then true love will prevail, though not without a fight. Voilà: plug in the character names, and off the story goes. In this case, Colin Hancock is the misunderstood lad who’s decided to reform his hard-knuckle ways but just can’t keep himself from connecting fist to face from time to time. Maria Sanchez is the dedicated lawyer in harm’s way—and not just because her boss is a masher. Simple enough. All Colin has to do is punch the partner’s lights out: “The sexual harassment was bad enough, but Ken was a bully as well, and Colin knew from his own experience that people like that didn’t stop abusing their power unless someone made them. Or put the fear of God into them.” No? No, because bound up in Maria’s story, wrinkled with the doings of an equally comely sister, there’s a stalker and a closet full of skeletons. Add Colin’s back story, and there’s a perfect couple in need of constant therapy, as well as a menacing cop. Get Colin and Maria to smooching, and the plot thickens as the storylines entangle. Forget about love—can they survive the evil that awaits them out in the kudzu-choked woods?
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose corn syrup, stickily sweet but irresistible.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-2061-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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