A rousing war saga that blends alternate history with grittily convincing combat.
U.S. Marines, Soviet airborne troops, Iraqi and Iranian soldiers, and Sandinistas and Contras tangle as the world inches toward Armageddon in Aaronson and Rosone’s series-starting thriller.
The authors explore an alternate version of 1979 and 1980 in which the era’s real-life military confrontations veer into fictional scenarios. The novel starts with the seizure of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian students, then proceeds to a rescue mission that recovers most of the hostages after a bloody firefight between Marine infantry and Iranian forces. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran ensues, but in this telling, the U.S. government conducts airstrikes that obliterate Iraqi tank columns. Elsewhere, an attack by Sandinista missile boats on American warships pitches the U.S. into war with Nicaragua. Meanwhile, President Jimmy Carter sees his approval ratings soar to over 70% as the administration seeks to secure ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Meanwhile, Operation Bogatyr, the Kremlin’s plan to “free the workers of the world” by conquering Europe, proceeds apace. The novel has a teeming cast of characters from all the contending forces, but the closest thing to a protagonist is Marine Corps Sgt. Carlos Rodriguez, who fights Iranians, watches his marriage disintegrate stateside, and goes on a covert op to Nicaragua, where he’s taken prisoner by a Sandinista militia member who hates Soviets more than Americans. Aaronson and Rosone, both veterans, paint a panorama of military experience from every angle: tank melees, damage control in a stricken destroyer, helicopters blasted by sandstorms, soldiers drowning their grief in alcohol. The novel’s geo-strategizing sometimes bogs down in long-winded debates in the White House Situation Room. However, the action scenes are detailed, realistic, and gripping, especially in small-unit infantry clashes, which build from clipped, tense procedural to panicked frenzy: “ ‘Shoot back! For cryin’ out loud, Poole, you have to shoot back!’ Rodriguez screamed as he sent three-round bursts in the enemy’s direction.” The authors’ energetic prose and fine rendering of conflict make for an engrossing read.
A rousing war saga that blends alternate history with grittily convincing combat.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2022
ISBN: 9781957634623
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Front Line Publishing Inc.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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