A fast-moving espionage tale occasionally slowed by bland exchanges.
Ceroni takes readers on an international adventure in this CIA thriller.
In Ocho Rios, Jamaica, CIA agent Roy Phillips is on vacation with his wife. It is all sunshine and relaxation until one night at dinner when Roy notices a suspicious group of men. When Roy casually inspects their van, the situation quickly turns violent, and Roy winds up dead. Although the initial explanation posits a simple robbery gone wrong, it is clear something much bigger is going on in Jamaica. Cue CIA agent Dave McClure: Dave is sent to investigate Roy’s death, but first he must head to Germany, where an informant divulges that a far-right organization has plans to take over the government and install a “Fourth Reich.” It seems a wild claim (someone explicitly asks, “A Fourth Reich? Really?”); nevertheless, the CIA decides to investigate. Back in Jamaica, Dave helps to determine that Roy’s murder is linked to a secret Chinese missile base, housing warheads with sufficient range to hit Washington, D.C. This is only the beginning of Dave’s troubles: It turns out there are plenty of other parties who are interested in harming the United States. The narrative is full of twists and action—Roy is credibly established as the protagonist before he is abruptly killed. When it appears Jamaica will be the setting for the story, events move to, of all places, Wyoming. The reader is left guessing where the hero will end up next and what bad guys he will take down. The dialogue throughout, however, is much more predictable. Characters often state the obvious with comments like “I’m just completely overwhelmed,” or make generic exclamations like “That’s outstanding!” Still, the narrative keeps the action moving: Dave is told early on by his boss to take the offensive while in the field, and it’s advice he heeds again and again.
A fast-moving espionage tale occasionally slowed by bland exchanges.Pub Date: March 25, 2023
ISBN: 978-1977261809
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable visit with an old character, but not one of Ware’s strongest.
Travel writer Lo Blacklock is back. Ten years after the events of The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016), she's attending the opening of a lavish Swiss hotel when, once again, a mystery intervenes.
A decade after she almost died on a luxury cruise and ended up exposing a murder plot, travel journalist Laura “Lo” Blacklock is trying to get back into the business post-Covid-19 and post–maternity leave. When she's invited to an exclusive hotel launch by the Leidmann Group on the shores of Switzerland’s gorgeous Lake Geneva, her supportive husband, Judah, insists that she should go, and her old boss, Rowan, says that if Lo can score an interview with the reclusive Marcus Leidmann, she’ll publish it in the Financial Times. Leaving Judah and the kids at home in New York, Lo is surprised by a last-minute upgrade to first class, which kicks off her trip in style. The hotel is appropriately awe-inspiring in both scenic location and effortless luxury, and Lo starts to put the memories of last trip’s trauma behind her, thinking that maybe she can just enjoy the experience this time. But then, at dinner, she's surprised to see at least three guests who were also on that original cruise, and when she finds a mysterious note in her room saying "Please come to suite 11 as soon as possible," she gets another shock. To quote William Faulkner, she realizes that “the past is never dead,” and soon Lo is careening across Europe on her way to England, only to find herself embroiled in another murder. The back half of the novel offers her the opportunity to continue her amateur sleuthing, and while she avoids much of the physical danger that plagued her on the cruise a decade ago, she is in very real legal trouble. This is the prolific Ware’s first sequel, and it's fun to spend time with Lo again, as she's both savvy and kindhearted. Unfortunately, the mystery is not as atmospheric and gripping as usual for Ware, though even a lesser Ruth Ware thriller is still worth reading.
An enjoyable visit with an old character, but not one of Ware’s strongest.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781668025628
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
A weird, wild ride.
Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.
Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels—Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.
A weird, wild ride.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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