A clever, stylish mystery that continually surprises.
In Agee’s debut mystery, one of New York University’s “best and brightest” risks his future to complete his late father’s investigation into a scandalous “family matter.”
Much to the disapproval of his politician mother and the displeasure of the head of the Stern School of Business, top third-year student Benjamin Timmons cannot be dissuaded from declining a plum Wall Street position to go to the Arkansas small town where his uncle was “killed by a prominent, wealthy woman.” His father had investigated the matter, an obsession that possibly cost him his marriage and, Benjamin begins to suspect, his life. His death, over 18 months prior, was ruled a car accident. Readers know better; the novel begins with “the car’s somersault down the steep terrain” at the hands of a killer who is forced out of retirement by a woman “who knew too much about his history, wouldn’t allow him to avoid her demands, and forced him to agree.” Learning the killer’s and the woman’s identities drive this mystery that will immerse the younger Timmons into a classic noir plot of small-town secrets; a moneyed and very well-connected family, among whose members is a former president of the United States; and a “full-blown conspiracy.” Agee’s series launch grabs from the get-go. Timmons is an unconventional protagonist for such sordid goings-on. He is young, not cynical nor a smartass, not gripped by lust for a femme fatale or in thrall to drink. He is driven to complete what his father started and gain closure to a very cold case. This does not sit well with some in the town. Vague warnings (“be careful”) become threats (“You’re going to get hurt in this”) made by those who Timmons has little doubt can make good on them. To his credit, Agee’s reveals carry genuine surprise that encourages rereads to discover how clues might have been missed.
A clever, stylish mystery that continually surprises.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5092-2998-7
Page Count: 422
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Feeney improves on her debut with a taut suspense plot, many gleeful twists and turns, and suspects galore.
A news presenter and a police detective are brought together by murders in the British village where they both grew up.
There is precious little that can be revealed about the plot of Feeney’s third novel without spoilers, as the author has woven surprises and plot twists and suspicious linkages into nearly every one of her brief, first-person chapters, written in three alternating narrative voices. “Hers” is Anna Andrews, a wannabe anchor on a BBC news program whose lucky break comes when the body of one of her school friends is found brutally murdered in their hometown, a woodsy little spot called Blackdown. “His” is DCI Jack Harper, head of the Major Crime Team in Blackdown, where major crimes were rather few until now. The third is unnamed but clearly the killer’s. Happily, none of the three is an unreliable narrator—good thing because plenty of people are sick of that—but none is exactly 100% forthcoming either. Which only makes sense, because you can't have reveals without secrets. In a small town like Blackdown, everybody knows everybody, so it’s not too surprising that Anna and Jack have a tragic past or that each has connections to all the victims and suspects while not being totally free from suspicion themselves. Who is that sneaky third narrator? On the way to figuring that out, expect high school mean girls, teen lesbian action, mutilated corpses, nasty things happening to kittens, and—as seems de rigueur in British thrillers—plenty of drinking and wisecracks, sometimes in tandem. “Sadly, my sister has the same taste in wine as she does in men; too cheap, too young, and headache-inducing.”
Feeney improves on her debut with a taut suspense plot, many gleeful twists and turns, and suspects galore.Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26608-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK TO SCREEN
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back—but all, of course, is not what it seems.
Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails—first his book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident—and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story.
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781250337788
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
