An often haunting tale of sinister secrets.
A psychologist attempts to uncover a sex trafficking ring while wrestling with trauma in Rivers’ thriller sequel.
After discovering a criminal conspiracy in her small town, Alamogordo, New Mexico, in Complicit (2021), Kate Medina is compelled to restart her life after losing her job as a high school psychologist. To that end, she remodels her desert home so that it’s all but impregnable, like an “old-time fortress.” She’s overwhelmed by fearful anxiety that sex traffickers in her town will eventually attempt to silence her; prominent businessman Allen Parks, one of them, pays her a menacing visit, chillingly depicted by the author. Kate establishes her own private practice, and while she’s hesitant to mine her clients for information, she keeps picking up clues that point to the conspiracy’s ringleaders. She begins to suspect that her mother’s death was not, as she once thought, an accident and may be connected to her knowledge of the criminal underbelly of Alamogordo. Meanwhile, Kate’s sister, Tilly, moves back to town and struggles with trauma related to past sexual abuse; she decides to use herself as bait to capture a serial rapist. Rivers paints an artfully disturbing portrait of a dark world of criminality that’s as ubiquitous as it is invisible—one in which respected and powerful people prey upon the town’s vulnerable youth. The prose is straightforwardly plain and largely shorn of poetical embellishment, although it can veer into cliché at times: “How could she even consider bringing children into a world like this?” However, the novel as a whole radiates a feeling of gloom that’s as entrancing as it is horrifying. It’s the second installment in a series, and although it’s a self-sufficient, stand-alone novel—the reader doesn’t need to read its predecessor to enjoy it—the two stories are so deeply intertwined that it’s best to read both.
An often haunting tale of sinister secrets.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73451-606-7
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Compathy Press, LLC.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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
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