Evil lies beneath the surface in this gripping tale of bigotry and religious orthodoxy.
A gay couple and their two children move into a new home in a small, run-down town in Saxsma’s eerie thriller.
Dwayne and Ollie pack up their lives and take up residence in a house in the small town of Larton with Ollie’s two kids, teenage Jodi Lee and 5-year-old Sam. The author gives a long, cinematic description of the house, the crumbling town, and untended fields in the novel’s opening that sets an ominous tone. It’s 1987, and Dwayne suffers from an unnamed illness (all signs point to HIV). As the reader develops concern for Dwayne (who also struggles to impress Ollie’s kids), Ollie joins the sheriff’s department, where the community’s seedy underbelly is exposed: There’s a serial killer on the loose, called “The Visitor,” and catching the man becomes Ollie’s new unhealthy obsession. Meanwhile, Jodi befriends Beverly, whose conservative, religious family attends services where they chant that God “hates them and loves us.” It’s clear that gay men like Ollie and Dwayne are the target of this religious hatred, and Dwayne faces unsettling instances of bigotry throughout the novel, culminating in one deeply disturbing moment of violence. The depiction of small-town and evangelical closed-mindedness is hardly new, and the actions they inspire might be read by some as gratuitous. In the context of the 1980s setting and the established atmosphere of the book, however, every element feels of a piece. What’s more original is the breakdown of a same-sex relationship, which crescendos in a deft and momentous final act in which all the threads of the story finally come together. And that ending—perfection.
Evil lies beneath the surface in this gripping tale of bigotry and religious orthodoxy.Pub Date: March 31, 2023
ISBN: 9798218143909
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although it lacks the surgical precision of Slaughter’s very best nightmares, this one richly earns its title.
More than a decade after a Georgia man is convicted of a monstrous double murder, an uncomfortably similar crime frees him and resets the search for the guilty party.
In Clifton County, home to the Rich Cliftons and the other Cliftons, the disappearance of teens Madison Dalrymple and Cheyenne Baker during the Halloween festivities hits everyone in North Falls hard. Working with her father, Sheriff Gerald Clifton, Deputy Emmy Lou Clifton hears the clock ticking down as she races frantically to get leads on the two friends, who’d been secretly plotting to take off for Atlanta after some undisclosed big score. As a longtime friend of Madison’s mother, Hannah, Emmy hopes against hope to find the missing teens before they’re both dead. By the time Emmy’s hopes are dashed, two unpleasantly likely suspects with strong attachments to underage sex partners have emerged, and one of them ends up in prison. In a bold move, Slaughter jumps over the next 12 years to the case of Paisley Walker, a 14-year-old whose disappearance catches the eye of retiring FBI criminal psychologist Jude Archer, who promptly crosses the country to come to Clifton County and take charge—um, that is, consult—on this heartrending new investigation. Emmy, suddenly and shockingly deprived of counsel from the parents who’ve supported her all her life, doesn’t get along any better with Jude than with the larger circle of Cliftons and the Clifton-Cliftons. But together they identify one new suspect, then another, before a shootout that arrives so early you just know there are still more surprises to come.
Although it lacks the surgical precision of Slaughter’s very best nightmares, this one richly earns its title.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9780063336773
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
