Overstuffed thriller partly redeemed by a strong sense of place.
A woman’s probe of her beloved sister’s mysterious death makes her the next target.
American yacht designer Cassandra Brenner has spent five years in Singapore working for the family business, Ocean House, on her most extravagant project ever, building the superyacht Red Dragon. Cass is also involved in unspecified spying activities for something dubbed Operation UNDERTOW. Heading to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel one evening to meet her contact, she is instead bound and gagged by a sinister duo who want to know all about Red Dragon. The scene then shifts to her sister, Nadia, who receives a cryptic message from Cass shortly before a family meeting at Ocean House headquarters in Seattle concerning a powerful competitor. As a result of all this, Nadia is dispatched to Singapore to assist Cass, who’ll need all the help she can get because she is being stalked by the self-described killer and citizen spy Charlie Han, née Han Chenglong. Nadia arrives to the devastating news that Cass has fallen from the 40th floor of her hotel and the police are calling it suicide. Questions about Charlie’s true allegiances simmer beneath the surface as Nickless unspools several familiar tropes: dark figures pursuing Nadia, a mysterious astrologist who predicts danger, secrets withheld even by her family back in Seattle. Nadia can trust no one, not even Cass’ faithful assistant, Emily. The plot regains traction when Nadia returns to Seattle for a showdown fueled by family history. Nickless’ thriller offers local color and occasional chills, with the behemoth Red Dragon standing in for the traditional haunted house, but it sags a bit in the middle, striking the same notes over and over before a clever eleventh-hour twist provides a boost for the closing chapters.
Overstuffed thriller partly redeemed by a strong sense of place.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781662510014
Page Count: 379
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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