A grim, compelling fusion of an eventful mystery and an unorthodox coming-of-age story.
Fontainne and Emmes’ psychological thriller follows the intertwined, traumatic lives of two women and a girl.
Bridget Higgins is only 7 when she loses her mother and her stepfather in an explosive fire at an Arkansas law firm. Thirtysomething Claire Foster’s parents died in the same fire, which she survived, although her memory of the night is foggy, and her suspicious cop boyfriend is certain that she’s faking her amnesia to hide her culpability. Sometime later, Claire has a fateful run-in with successful wellness media influencer Barbara O’Malley, just after the latter killed a man who was stalking her. As a result, the pair shares a dark secret. Tech-savvy Claire becomes Barbara’s assistant; it’s a “job of a lifetime,” but Claire’s growing envy of her wealthy, glamorous boss eventually sullies it. As the years pass, Bridget aspires to be a brand influencer, which she hopes to jump-start by sharing her original horror stories online. She idolizes Barbara, whom she one day gets the chance to meet—although not in a way that readers will anticipate. Fontainne and Emmes’ narrative features a good deal of murky backstory, including the largely mysterious fire. Nevertheless, the novel’s engaging character development, which builds over more than a decade, makes the wait for big reveals worthwhile. The three main characters, who alternate first-person narration, are all fascinating in their own ways, and more than one of them dabbles in blackmail. The story opens on a somber note and somehow gets gloomier as it goes along, with character-centric chapters highlighting a variety of pitfalls, including resentment, vanity, and a craving for fame. The authors maintain a steady pace until the sensational final act, which is drawn out to great effect and closes the novel with a satisfying punch.
A grim, compelling fusion of an eventful mystery and an unorthodox coming-of-age story.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2025
ISBN: 9798230476597
Page Count: 348
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
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