Chock full of intrigue, heroism, wickedness…and even some redemption. A fun historical read.
A quasi-picaresque novel about an 18th-century gentleman/rogue convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and his efforts to clear his name and track down the killer.
The novel opens with Thomas Hawkins on the way to the gallows, so much of the novel is told in flashback. Hawkins is a bit of a rake and a bit of a scoundrel who admits that he likes to take risks but who also has a moral streak that makes him highly loyal to and protective of his mistress, Kitty Sparks. But when carpenter Joseph Burden—a member of the Society for the Reformation of Manners with an unsavory past—is murdered, Hawkins is considered a prime suspect, for Burden was supposed to testify against him for another murder Hawkins didn’t commit. After a night in jail, Hawkins is released through the influence of the City Marshal and is put in charge of searching for the real culprit. Because suspects are rife, the story becomes something of a whodunit and takes on the flavor of a good mystery. Suspects include Burden’s children, Judith and Stephen; his apprentice, Ned Weaver, who bears a great secret; his housekeeper, Alice, whom Burden was tupping; and Sam, nephew of a notorious gang leader and Hawkins' protégé. Through a series of elaborate narrative convolutions, Hawkins winds up being arrested, accused, convicted, and condemned for the crime (hence the long trek to the gallows with which the novel begins). While Hawkins narrates much of the novel—and we know he’s innocent—at times the story shifts to a third-person account that focuses on his slow movement to the gallows. And Hodgson (editor-in-chief of Little, Brown U.K.) even introduces a clever narrative strategy of transcribing a hypothetical record of Hawkins’ trial. One of Hawkins’ problems is that he’s almost too moral in a world that thrives on immorality and betrayal. As gang leader James Fleet explains to him, "Can’t afford honour in this world, Hawkins. It’ll kill you faster than the plague." This tension between goodness and "the way of the world” elevates the novel and gives it moral complexity.
Chock full of intrigue, heroism, wickedness…and even some redemption. A fun historical read.Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-63968-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
This thriller aims right for the heart and never lets go.
A tense thriller explores the bond between sisters and family dynamics that give new meaning to the term “dysfunctional.”
Three years ago, 17-year-old Emma Tanner and her 15-year-old sister, Cassandra, left home, disappearing into the night; as Walker's (All Is Not Forgotten, 2016, etc.) book opens, Cass shows up at her family’s house—without Emma. Dr. Abby Walker of the FBI, a forensic psychiatrist who’s been on the case from the beginning, is desperate to find out what happened and to find Emma before it’s too late. Cass tells Abby she and Emma had been arguing the night they took off and that it soon became obvious that Emma was packing up to leave. Cass, hoping to get her sister in trouble, hid in the car when Emma drove off, heading to the beach, where she was met by a man and woman Cass didn't recognize. When Cass revealed herself, they decided to take her with them as they left for a remote island off the coast of Maine. Emma was pregnant, Cass says, and the couple had offered to help her, but what they really had planned was to keep the baby for themselves. Cass finally managed to escape, she says, but without Emma. It’s a harrowing tale, and Cass says all she wants is to find Emma, but Abby suspects she's hiding something. Cass’ first-person narrative, interspersed with Abby’s investigation, paints a shocking picture of Cass’ ordeal and her family’s disturbing history. Her mother, Judy Martin, has always used her beauty and charm to manipulate her family, and her girls had to flatter her to win her affection. She was jealous of the attention given to her beautiful daughters, which threatened her fragile ego, and she was always scheming to get what she wanted—even seducing her stepson, Hunter, who was obsessed with Emma. Cass is a survivor, forced to become an adult very quickly, and readers will root for her as she tells her disturbing story and looks back on what could have been, when hope was all she and Emma had.
This thriller aims right for the heart and never lets go.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-14143-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Michaels’s fan base isn’t likely to be increased by this improbable distaff pastiche of Mission: Impossible.
The Sisterhood takes on yet another evildoer in their endless quest to right wrongs against unjustly maligned women.
Architect Isabelle Flanders’s life was destroyed when her coldly ambitious employee Rosemary Hershey framed her for vehicular manslaughter and stole her ideas and her fiancé Bobby Harcourt. Now the Sisterhood (The Jury, 2005, etc.) has devised a diabolical plan to help her get revenge and recover her reputation. Wealthy Sisterhood stalwart Myra Rutledge installs Isabelle in a luxurious office and buys a Virginia property to set up a bogus contest in which local architects will be invited to design a sumptuous horse farm, planning to make Isabelle and Rosemary the only finalists. Meanwhile, Bobby, long fed up with Rosemary’s greed, sues for divorce, planning to start his own architectural firm. Rosemary, who’s receiving anonymous letters reminding her that it was she and not innocent Isabelle who ran down and killed a family, is sinking into a funk as the Sisterhood increases the pressure. A rainy night in a cemetery, bogus snakes and a broken rope finally get Rosemary to confess and leave the Sisterhood ready to plot their next adventure.
Michaels’s fan base isn’t likely to be increased by this improbable distaff pastiche of Mission: Impossible.Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7278-6349-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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