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
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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