Like rich chocolate gelato: dark, delicious, and decadent.
An art appraiser assisting the FBI in investigating a possibly fraudulent dealer in Europe finds herself the prime suspect in her husband’s murder back home in New York.
The author has written numerous romance novels as J.J. Sorel—writing here under the pseudonym Amora Sway, this is her first thriller. Police believe young widow Mallory Storm may have poisoned her abusive husband Erik, whose autopsy report showed “traces of digoxin, which is known to induce a heart attack.” Mallory was at work as an art appraiser when he died—she is Italy-bound to help the FBI track down Dylan Hyde, an alleged fraudulent dealer, as he participates in a series of high-end auctions. Mallory is an expert in art from the mid-19th century to the contemporary period, and she’s also beautiful and blond enough to serve as a “honeypot” to snare Dylan. What she didn’t count on was Dylan being so “hot.” (“He’s like a James Bond of the art world.”) Of course, they connect, on all levels, surrounded by danger that includes grisly murders and a car chase on hairpin Italian curves. But just as she hides her true mission as well as her complete backstory—which includes her status as a murder suspect and a series of panic attacks—from Dylan, he keeps his business and family secrets from her. The author’s previous experience in writing romance novels pays off in making the love scenes steamy; with Dylan, Mallory’s body heats “up as quickly as a Ferrari’s speed climb.” The pacing is fast and furious, and there is humor and depth to the characters. Descriptions of small towns, major cities, and the countryside of Italy may prompt readers to call their travel agents. Adding richness to the book are musings on art, such as, “you surely recognize that grays make bright colors pop. Look at a woman in red on a dull day, and she will stand out more than on a sunny day.” The glamorous, lucrative world of art auctions serves as an exciting backdrop to this thriller, which includes numerous twists and an unexpected ending.
Like rich chocolate gelato: dark, delicious, and decadent.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2024
ISBN: 9798343591965
Page Count: 255
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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