His surface charm, intelligence, wealthy upbringing, and good looks make Pryor’s antihero popular with his co-workers....
How to get away with murder, again.
Ever since his troublesome days at prep school in his native England, Dominic has been well-aware that he's a psychopath with no sense of empathy, guilt, or fear. We first met him (Hollow Man, 2015) when he and some friends stole a lot of money and avoided charges for two murders. Dominic’s only joy in life is his music, which has won him a devoted following in the Austin, Texas, clubs he plays. His job as a prosecutor in juvenile court brings him up against Bobby, a budding psychopath and the younger brother of the stunning, nameless young woman with whom Dominic has a secret relationship. For her sake, Dominic does his best to keep the teen out of jail. That’s no easy task because Bobby’s often in trouble, and his condition leads him to believe he’s too clever to get caught. In between rounds with Bobby, Dominic toys with fellow juvenile prosecutor Brian McNulty, a borderline incompetent who thirsts after a judgeship that will soon be available. Detective Megan Ledsome, the officer who investigated the robbery and murder Dominic managed to cover up, still has an eye on him and has questioned Bobby, who decides it might be a good idea if she ended up dead. Once she’s killed, Dominic struggles to keep Bobby in the clear. But the game changes when Dominic finds Bobby shot to death, a possible suicide, while he’s on a ride-along with the local police. Rolling as usual with the punch, Dominic cooks up a complicated plan to keep himself out of trouble while messing up McNulty’s plans to secure the judgeship, a job Dominic feels suits him much better.
His surface charm, intelligence, wealthy upbringing, and good looks make Pryor’s antihero popular with his co-workers. Readers, by contrast, may find it hard to work up much sympathy for a man who lacks any normal human feelings.Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63388-365-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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