A brief, straightforward, and unfortunately uninspired detective novel.
In Golden’s thriller, a cop investigates the killing of a prominent journalist and discovers a vast criminal conspiracy.
When Elaine Cross, a reporter known as the “city’s loudest voice against corruption,” is murdered, Det. Mara Ellis suspects that her death is connected to a story that she was investigating. She and her partner, Will Novak, discover that the victim had uncovered a powerful criminal network, unimaginatively called the Syndicate, which runs the unnamed city. The group’s enforcer, Kane,a “power broker, a puppet master who operated in the shadows,” is surely behind Elaine’s killing, and the man who pulled the trigger, a mysterious hit man known only as Wraith, is now setting his sights on Ellis. The deeper that Ellis digs, the more she discovers that Elaine had hard evidence against the Syndicate, including a top city official who claims to have been helping Elaine, but may actually be working both sides. Even after several attempts on her life, Ellis doggedly persists in her investigation and plots revenge against her tormentors, despite repeated warnings from her concerned partner. Over the course of Golden’s novel, readers will find that the central virtue of the narrative is its clarity; the plot is complex and has an unpredictable ending, but readers will never feel lost. That said, they may find that much of the novel feels derivative, with scenes and set pieces that will feel overly familiar to dedicated genre fans. Wraith, in particular, comes across as a cartoonish villain of the sort who delivers conveniently information-rich monologues immediately before attempting to kill off the protagonist; even Ellis finds herself asking him, “Why tell me this?”
A brief, straightforward, and unfortunately uninspired detective novel.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781960976697
Page Count: 126
Publisher: Lamar Golden
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.
A Christmas bout between Kay Scarpetta and the Phantom Slasher.
But first, Scarpetta, Virginia’s chief medical examiner, has to figure out how software designer Rowdy O’Leary died. Fished from the Potomac River on Christmas Eve six years after a hit-and-run driver left him permanently disabled and a week after he plunked down the cash for a pricey emerald ring, he fell off his fishing perch and drowned—or did he? Scarpetta’s examination of his body is cut short by two disturbing developments: the discovery of an unidentified woman’s remains buried on the grounds of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, and celebrity TV reporter Dana Diletti’s report that the red-eyed ghost associated with the Slasher’s three murders has floated through the window of her home. She’s got video, too, and the apparition looks real and scary. The final blow to Scarpetta’s plans for a Christmas getaway with her husband, Secret Service forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, is an attack on an Alexandria home that kills Mercy psychiatrist Georgine Duvall, who used to treat Scarpetta’s niece, Lucy Farinelli, and nearly kills graduate student Zain Willard, White House intern and nephew of presidential candidate Sen. Calvin Willard. This time the Slasher’s ghost has been spotted on the scene by none other than Pete Marino, head of investigations for the medical examiner’s office and Scarpetta’s longtime sidekick. Cornwell’s use of Robbie, Zain’s robotic dog, and Janet, Lucy’s AI companion, integrates the futuristic elements she favors more successfully than in her recent outings. But the solutions to all these mysteries will leave fans of the venerable franchise pursing their lips rather than gasping in awe.
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538773963
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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