β Scribed by Keenan, Joe
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Set in contemporary New York, this book revolves around four characters, all either unemployed or barely employed. The calamities begin when Gilbert, who is gay, and Moira, an arch bitch, devise a seemingly brilliant plan to swindle their respective monied families - by getting married.
In his debut novel, Keenan, a lyricist, illustrates what happens when Philip Cavanaugh, a homosexual and struggling songwriter, becomes embroiled in a scheme by his former lover, Gilbert Selwyn, who plans to marry a wealthy duchess's daughter to reap the wedding gifts. The plot grows more complicated with, among other things, the involvement of the Mafia, the unmasking of the duchess and a rekindled love affair between ''Philly'' and ''Gilley.'' Yet, despite these elaborate plot machinations, the characters remain one-dimensional (flighty Gilbert, Philip's yuppie sister and brother-in-law in the suburbs, amoral Moira Finch, the bride), failing to engage the reader's interest in them or in their predicaments. Keenan has Philip narrating in a contrived, lighthearted tone replete with one-liners (''Holly's laugh sounds like a getaway car rounding a corner on two wheels'') and pursuing stereotypes of pretentiously artsy New Yorkers and high-strung, irrational gays. A skillful ending cannot compensate for all that precedes it.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
''Blue Heaven... frothy, brilliantly coloured and packing a wicked satiric punch.'' Los Angeles Magazine ''Blue Heaven is a hilarious read. Quote me with pleasure.'' Sir Ian McKellen ''I adored it, laughing out loud on occasions as I read it at one sitting.'' The Bookseller ''Joe Keenan has put the 'high' back into high jinks... refreshingly effervescent'' New York Times ''Joe Keenan's first novel plunges headlong into a world of deceit, avarice and violence and it's all a scream - Keenan maintains impressive control over a wonderfully ludicrous plot-packed full of lines that are well worth memorizing - and with a finale that is staggeringly, hilariously contrived.'' Time Out
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βA nonstop thrill ride.β βHarlan Coben A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother are on the run in the Idaho woods, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murderβfour men who know exactly who William and Annie are. And where their mother lives. βGrade βAβ . . . donβt miss it.β __
THEY WERE RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME, NOW THEY'RE RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES. If twelve-year-old Annie hadn't been angry with her mother, she would never have taken her younger brother William on a secret fishing trip deep into the North Idaho woods and they would never have witnessed the execution nor loo
A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder---four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her childrenβs fate. Reti