A well-plotted mystery to curl up with.
Traymore’s suspenseful mystery novel, the second in a series, pits one stalker against another.
Victoria Mancusio’s life is at a precarious pass. After her husband, Nick, had an affair and faced a murder trial (he was acquitted), the marriage bond is very tenuous. The national publicity of the trial drew the attention of former art professor Timothy Sutton, a sexual predator who attacked Victoria when she was an undergraduate. She fought him off, and he was even forced out of his university position. So now, 10 years later, this narcissist may be out for revenge (he’s sending Victoria threatening texts), and he knows where she lives. She flies from her art gallery in New York to Arizona, deducing that he might be there. Indeed, she spots him and also finds and enlists Jenna Williams, another woman who survived his attacks, as a reluctant ally in trying to get this menace off the streets. Victoria is also attracted to hunky Scottsdale Police Department detective Randy Ramirez. Sutton winds up in “ankle monitor” custody but cuts it off and slips away, whereabouts unknown; likewise, Jenna, whom Victoria had bankrolled to move east, takes off. Now it’s cat and mouse, with Sutton and Victoria each both the cat and the mouse, leading to a surprising and violent conclusion. Traymore is a very competent writer (“There was enough guilt in this family to fill purgatory”) and very good with plotting and suspense. Another strong element is that everyone—even the good guys—harbors secrets. It began with Nick’s infidelity and is echoed in the flirtation between Victoria and Randy. And those are just a few examples. For the very best reasons (she tells herself), Victoria is playing it close to the vest, while Nick finally admits that he was not totally truthful about certain details, even after he confessed to the infidelity. There is even a grace note of deception, as it were: Victoria may have been the result of her mother’s early-on extramarital dalliance. The novel reads like a primer on tangled webs, and Traymore is clearly having fun with it.
A well-plotted mystery to curl up with.Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2022
ISBN: 9781956806779
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Indie Pub Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2022
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
SEEN & HEARD
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
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