A resilient series hero drives this tense, absorbing mystery.
In Magnani’s thriller (one in a series), a toxicologist-turned-assassin investigates climate scientists’ questionable deaths.
Dr. Lily Robinson knows her poisons and toxins, which is how she makes her U.S. government–sanctioned assassinations look natural. She’s also the perfect choice to look into scientist Daniel Williams’ death while he was scuba diving off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Though a venomous sea krait’s bite killed him, that particular snake isn’t commonly found in that area. After another scientist and her husband mysteriously die in Australian waters, it seems someone is targeting people with ties to the Climate Council, which has an upcoming conference in Brussels. Lily, on behalf of a clandestine team she’s previously worked for, investigates in Sydney, South Africa, and Belgium. She’s joined by operatives Jean Paul “JP” Marchand (who’s also her soul mate) and the mononymous Parker as she works to uncover the toxin-armed killer(s) agenda. Their mission may soon entail taking out the operatives who are hot on the killer’s trail. As in Magnani’s A Message in Poison (2022), the story teems with medical terminology and clear details about poisons and toxic plants and animals. Chapters intercut Lily’s first-person narration with third-person perspectives; this approach allows readers to identify at least one villain before Lily even has a chance. This structure also amps up the suspense, especially once the malefactor in question realizes someone is onto them. The narrative intermittently dives into Lily’s curious past as she reminisces about someone she lost decades earlier, as well as the woman who recruited her to the team. Although Lily’s toxicological expertise and professed “Spidey sense” (“Years of buried feelings have allowed me to develop an intuition that reaches deep from within”) rarely come into play in this sequel, her doggedness and all-around scientific knowledge make her an exceptional investigator. The plot rolls out a few surprises, including a doozy in the searing final act.
A resilient series hero drives this tense, absorbing mystery.Pub Date: July 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781645995258
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Encircle Publications, LLC
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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