Action-loving readers are the real winners in this offbeat thriller.
A Southern Californian journalist searches rural Oregon for her lost mother.
Caitlin Bergman knows that working for the LA Voice won’t earn her any Pulitzers. But it gives her the press credentials to travel to Coos County, Oregon, on the pretext of writing a feature on the State of Jefferson, the brainchild of a movement from the 1940s whose present-day adherents, known as the Proud Sons, hope to create a 51st state on the California-Oregon border. Caitlin’s real purpose, though, is to investigate the death of a member of the Daughters of God, an apocalyptic cult that lives on an Oregon hillside under the watchful eye of Desmond Pratten, the only male allowed in the single-sex commune. Caitlin has reason to believe that the deceased is Maya Aronson, the mother who surrendered Caitlin shortly after her birth to be adopted by LA cop Matthew Bergman. Caitlin both hopes and fears that she’ll learn more about Maya and discover what led the former porn star to retreat to an Oregon hillside to await the end of the world. But she needs to be careful. The Daughters aren’t exactly popular with the locals, especially not with lumber tycoon Anders Larsen or his son, Johnny. Johnny’s teenage daughter, Promise, ran off and joined the cult, and he aims to get her back at any price. Sparks fly when his mission collides with Caitlin’s. As the Sons and Daughters clash, it’s anyone’s guess which off-the-grid worldview will prevail.
Action-loving readers are the real winners in this offbeat thriller.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64385-436-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.
A Christmas bout between Kay Scarpetta and the Phantom Slasher.
But first, Scarpetta, Virginia’s chief medical examiner, has to figure out how software designer Rowdy O’Leary died. Fished from the Potomac River on Christmas Eve six years after a hit-and-run driver left him permanently disabled and a week after he plunked down the cash for a pricey emerald ring, he fell off his fishing perch and drowned—or did he? Scarpetta’s examination of his body is cut short by two disturbing developments: the discovery of an unidentified woman’s remains buried on the grounds of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, and celebrity TV reporter Dana Diletti’s report that the red-eyed ghost associated with the Slasher’s three murders has floated through the window of her home. She’s got video, too, and the apparition looks real and scary. The final blow to Scarpetta’s plans for a Christmas getaway with her husband, Secret Service forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, is an attack on an Alexandria home that kills Mercy psychiatrist Georgine Duvall, who used to treat Scarpetta’s niece, Lucy Farinelli, and nearly kills graduate student Zain Willard, White House intern and nephew of presidential candidate Sen. Calvin Willard. This time the Slasher’s ghost has been spotted on the scene by none other than Pete Marino, head of investigations for the medical examiner’s office and Scarpetta’s longtime sidekick. Cornwell’s use of Robbie, Zain’s robotic dog, and Janet, Lucy’s AI companion, integrates the futuristic elements she favors more successfully than in her recent outings. But the solutions to all these mysteries will leave fans of the venerable franchise pursing their lips rather than gasping in awe.
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538773963
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 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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