A thrilling and suspenseful story about how money can bring out the very worst in all of us.
When a middle-class British family wins the lottery, the money causes more problems than anyone could have imagined.
For 15 years, Lexi and Jake Greenwood have been best friends with the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Together these couples have raised children, traveled, shopped, enjoyed weekly dinner parties, and imagined each other more like family than friends. They also play the lottery together every week. Lexi collects the money and buys the ticket, always choosing the same set of numbers. But one week, this tight group has a falling out. Patrick Pearson declares the lottery “common” and says he’s tired of participating in their syndicate. He wants out, and the Heathcotes follow suit. Lo and behold, one week later, Lexi buys the winning ticket, and now she and Jake have no intention of sharing the money. Instead, Jake begins buying himself and their teenage children everything they’ve ever wanted. Lexi, who works for an organization providing services to the needy, would much rather donate large portions of the winnings. As the Greenwoods battle over how to spend the money, the Pearsons and Heathcotes learn of the win and come out swinging. As the story unfolds and the friends vie for the money, damaging secrets emerge and characters begin double-crossing each other at every opportunity. Money brings out the worst of each of the players in this dark tale, as people grow increasingly bold in fighting for a cut of the winnings. Although Lexi is the lead, the narrative is told from the perspectives of many characters, including Jake; their daughter, Emily; family friends; and even a homeless client of Lexi’s. Jumping among many characters and time frames results in a narrative that sometimes feels choppy and disjointed, and between physical beatings, hostage situations, murder, and adultery, there's so much action that it can feel unrealistic. Even so, each individual chapter is so well crafted and engaging that the story’s intrigue and suspense continue to build, and the characters' emotions ring true and evocative throughout.
A thrilling and suspenseful story about how money can bring out the very worst in all of us.Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7783-3173-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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