This grim, epic crime drama is rich in history and thrilling moments.
An Irish ex-boxer seeks vengeance against a New York–based criminal organization in Konvitz’s historical novel.
When professional boxing is banned in 1900, Billy McGuinness steps out of the ring indefinitely. The 30-something man, who’s also “one of Chicago’s most feared gamblers,” is ready to establish himself elsewhere. He sets up a gambling riverboat in St. Louis and later a brewery back in Chicago, but by 1911, he’s working toward a much darker goal. The Aronbergs, a family he’s close to, are brutally murdered in New York, and McGuinness attributes the crime to the System—Irish gangsters tied to crooked cops and dirty politics. He concocts an elaborate plan that involves bumping elbows with the likes of Jim Monaghan, the man McGuinness surmises to be behind the Aronbergs’ deaths. He proposes to the Irish gangsters the notion of a “national syndicate” that they must organize themselves before the Jewish and Italian criminals take over. It’s a power play that may catch Monaghan’s attention but won’t, McGuinness believes, turn out in the System’s favor. All of this demands the former boxer steer clear of any connection to the Aronbergs, lest his revenge scheme come to light. The situation grows even more dangerous when McGuinness gets his hands on an incriminating item that will prove Monaghan is dirty, along with copious others who’ll want to ensure this evidence never surfaces. To see his plan through, McGuinness makes full use of his allies (including a Chicago crime boss and a New York reporter), his highly capable fists, and the occasional explosive.
Konvitz’s sprawling tale opens in 1878 with an exhilarating boxing match–cum–street fight. This is crucial scene-setting for the early 20th-century characters, including McGuinness. Following this prologue, however, is a leisurely paced decade (1900-1910) full of exposition detailing McGuiness’ businesses in St. Louis and Chicago (and even Monaghan’s wedding party). Still, the author fills the story with diverting historical nods, such as the impending 1904 Summer Olympics in the United States and a news story about the Titanic prior to its fateful maiden voyage. There’s likewise a bevy of true-life figures mingling with fictional characters, from newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It surely won’t surprise readers that this cast of lawbreakers teems with unsavory types. McGuinness is the quintessential antihero who doesn’t shy away from violence while seeking retribution—what he calls justice—for a murdered family. Myriad others in this novel don’t care who they hurt or kill; their seemingly endless rounds of dialogue are littered with profanities and racial slurs. A significant portion of the story unfolds in New York, where tension is perpetually high—there’s more than one shocking demise, and McGuinness isn’t the only one deceiving people. The final act includes a series of memorable epilogues that follow some of the characters to the mid-1900s.
This grim, epic crime drama is rich in history and thrilling moments.Pub Date: June 17, 2025
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 531
Publisher: 89th Street Press
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.
Following her father’s sudden death, Aisling Swann is secretly horrified when her mother begins to date again—and she quickly becomes suspicious of this new flame.
Four years ago: A mysterious male narrator reflects upon his relationship with his wife—along with a few pointed comments about how she is aging. It quickly becomes apparent that this self-proclaimed “very pleasant” man is not who he seems; he already has a girlfriend on the side, and he’s playing both women with sob stories about his job and his traumatic past while taking money from them. Even as they get more and more frustrated with his lack of communication during ever-lengthening absences, he still gives them what they want: “a top-notch husband.” In the present day, Ash Swann; her brother, Arlo; and their mother, Nina, mourn the loss of her charismatic father, Paddy, a successful chef with a chain of lucrative restaurants. Nina receives a sympathy note from a man who claims to have worked closely with Paddy in the industry, which leads to a robust online flirtation that moves into the real world about a year after her husband’s death. Ash is living at home, mired in grief as well as her own mental health struggles, and she’s none too happy to see her mom dating—but particularly this handsome, egregiously suave Nick Radcliffe. Ash begins to notice some inconsistencies with his stories and his past, so she enlists Paddy’s ex-girlfriend Jane to help her investigate. Meanwhile, Ash’s story continues to intercut that of the mysterious man who is now married to his former girlfriend—and still up to his old tricks. Jewell’s cutting between past and present certainly allows revelations to ooze out at a slow, controlled pace; even as the reader makes obvious connections, the full picture remains obscure. Jewell has written some incredibly engaging and strong female characters, Nina, Ash, and Jane foremost among them. What would it have been like to split the narrative between them instead of giving so much voice—and thus narrative power—to the male antagonist?
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781668033876
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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