A complex and suspenseful novel that will keep readers engaged.
In Ghanaian-born author Kwakye’s mystery, a homicide detective comes to suspect that a celebrity journalist’s murder may have been politically motivated.
The entire nation of Ghana is shocked and horrified when the body of beloved journalist, singer, and TV news program host Erin Boadu is discovered on the beach in Teshie, stabbed and burnt beyond recognition. Chloe Cudjoe—a detective in Teshie’s Criminal Investigation Department who’s still haunted by the unsolved murder of her husband, Michael, during their honeymoon many years ago—takes the lead in the investigation. The ambitious and multitalented Erin was seen by many as a national treasure, but, as it turns out, not everyone loved her. Shortly before her murder, she disclosed to her boss that she was working on something that was “making some very important people nervous.” Chloe remembers that Erin had made headlines after publicly questioning former Ghanaian President Yaw Tano about something called Project Dotbug, the specifics of which remain vague; even Erin’s producer, Kofi Adom, only knows that the project involved money laundering. When Chloe interviews Tano, he speaks highly of her, mourns her death, and denies any knowledge of what Project Dotbug is. The night Erin was murdered, he’d been hosting some friends who were in Ghana for an international conference; his alibi checks out, but Chloe can’t shake the feeling that Tano was behind Erin’s murder, and that he didn’t work alone. Kwakye’s whodunit unfolds in two timelines: Chloe’s investigation in the present, and Tano’s personal life and career in the years leading up to it. The novel’s premise is intriguing, and the well-developed characters and the connections they share make it even more compelling. Most notably, throughout the book, Tano struggles to balance his principles and his love of Ghana with unsavory political necessities; this becomes more complicated as his personal and professional relationships merge. Readers will enjoy the story’s twists and its depiction of global politics, as well as the author’s evocative prose: “Chloe stares intently at the charred remains, burned almost to the skeleton. The remaining skin is plastered like a scarecrow's tattered garb.”
A complex and suspenseful novel that will keep readers engaged.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.
The 25th novel featuring Silva’s legendary protagonist.
During his intersecting careers as art restorer and Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon has tangled with Russian gangsters and al-Qaida terrorists. He has become well-acquainted with operatives in multiple security agencies and befriended a paid assassin. He has busted art thieves and created passable forgeries by Renaissance masters and abstract Modernists. This latest installment centers around his relationship with the pope and a newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci that has gone missing from the Vatican. Silva’s novels tend to fall into two categories: books that reflect the politics of the day and books that don’t. His latest is one of the latter, which could be a treat for readers looking for escape, but it falls flat for a variety of reasons. Luxury has always been part of Gabriel Allon’s universe. It used to be an aspect of tradecraft, though. Allon would be wearing a very expensive suit and driving a very expensive car because he was posing as a client at a Swiss bank. Here, his wife is hosting a catered lunch for 150 of their daughter’s classmates in their apartment overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. What once felt like a scintillating peek into the world of the obscenely wealthy now just feels…kind of obscene. Similarly, Allon goes chasing after a missing painting as a civilian—he retired from Mossad in Portrait of an Unknown Woman (2022)—the same way another man his age might buy a speedboat or get hair plugs. As the story progresses, the stakes are raised, but it’s hard to forget that Allon is now a middle-aged man pursuing a dangerous hobby, rather than a spymaster leading his intrepid team to prevent a disaster that will disrupt the global order.
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063384217
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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