by John Manos John K. Manos ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A stunningly bold novel composed with great authorial confidence.
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A retired homicide detective assists a friend whose daughter is threatened by a violent stalker in Manos’ thriller.
Larry Klinger, retired from the Chicago Police Department for six years and anguished over the death of his 6-year-old son, Mattie, spends his time aimlessly riding the subway, emotionally adrift. Realizing his pain has only grown deeper as decades pass, he seeks solace in group therapy and becomes friends with a handful of men, all of whom have suffered the trauma of losing a child. The author affectingly portrays the bond Klinger forms with his brothers in commiseration: “And it was less that he felt like he knew the personalities, hopes, or fears of the men beyond what he was learning each week, he explained, than a sense that they all knew something about themselves and one another that they all desperately wished they did not know.” Dan McVie, one of them, frets anxiously over the safety of his daughter, Andrea—the boyfriend she recently dumped, Marco Bala, is an angry man with violent tendencies, and he stubbornly stalks her. Marco becomes increasingly threatening, and, after receiving an order of protection demanding he steer clear of Andrea, he assaults her and menaces McVie’s wife, Sharon. Out of desperation, McVie wonders aloud if he should hire a hit man to kill Marco or simply do the job himself. Klinger is tortured by the impossibility of Andrea’s predicament—he knows that the police cannot arrest Marco and that Marco will never be satisfied until Andrea is dead; he confesses to his wife, Dora, “I don’t have any doubts about where this is headed, though.”
The narrative is a forlornly painful one—all of the principal characters are tormented by unspeakable loss, and their personal traumas are portrayed with extraordinary insight. The author’s prose is generally plain and foursquare—the power of Klinger’s melancholy is only increased by the spare simplicity of his mode of expression. Still, Manos is more than capable of poetic incisiveness—he describes Marco’s obsession with Andrea memorably: “But as subsequent days passed, a growing matrix of suspicions about Andrea’s social life preyed on Marco’s mind like a cracked tooth.” Despite the mounting evidence to the contrary, Marco insists they are “soulmates,” though Klinger astutely understands that Marco is less obsessed with possessing Andrea than he is with courting conflict. Klinger is a richly complex character—still reeling from the death of his young son, he can’t bear the thought of McVie losing another of his children and is haunted by the fact that the tragedy is all but a forgone conclusion. “So, basically, I want to prevent this guy from losing another daughter in a way that looks too damned inevitable for my taste.” The author wraps a psychologically astute tale of emotional conflict in a crime drama, the latter just as intelligently conceived as the former. This is a remarkable novel—poignant and provocative.
A stunningly bold novel composed with great authorial confidence.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781956872132
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Amika Press
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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New York Times Bestseller
by Jeneva Rose ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2024
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
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New York Times Bestseller
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2023
Roberts revisits a favorite theme: The power of community can defeat a great evil.
After escaping from a serial killer, a woman tries to reclaim her life.
After a childhood as an Army brat, Morgan Albright is determined to put down roots. She bought a small house in the perfect neighborhood outside of Baltimore, living with a friend and working two jobs to make ends meet. Morgan’s life is happy and fulfilling, and she is making progress on her financial and career goals. Her perfect world is shattered when someone breaks into her home and murders her roommate. At first, the police assume it was a random act of violence, but after discovering the killer stole Morgan’s identity and her entire savings, they realize the crime fits the profile of a serial killer named Gavin Rozwell. The police inform Morgan that her roommate was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; she was the real intended target. Morgan’s grief, coupled with the financial devastation from the identity theft, leaves her no choice but to return home to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother. Morgan reconnects with her family and rebuilds her life, including landing the perfect job and falling in love. The police and FBI pursue Gavin, who continues to stalk and kill women, each time leaving a reminder at the crime scene that shows he’s fixated on Morgan as the one who got away. Roberts shows Gavin’s slow descent into obsession and madness as the inverse of Morgan’s healing journey back to herself and her community. The novel highlights Morgan’s preparations for the inevitable final countdown with Gavin, but the lack of immediacy and urgency of the threat makes for a subdued, restrained thriller.
Roberts revisits a favorite theme: The power of community can defeat a great evil.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284112
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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