A compelling political thriller with a loyal friendship and an intriguing love affair at its center.
A young political protégé is caught up in a web of murder and other intrigue.
Teddy Thompson is a wunderkind in the political world, the mentee of a congressman who becomes a senator and then aspires to the White House. The novel starts with Teddy’s childhood in Connecticut, where he strikes up a friendship with the then-congressman’s daughter, Charlotte Pennington. Though always skirting around romantic involvement, they are the best of friends, ending up at Georgetown together, where Teddy begins to intern with Charlotte’s father, Sen. Conrad Pennington. Teddy also makes fast friends with Braden Edwards, a charismatic soccer player who becomes Charlotte’s boyfriend. Her father’s run for the vice presidency will lead to Braden’s murder, and Teddy’s and Charlotte’s lives, of course, will be changed forever. McMahon’s novel is part political thriller but also, as the author is quick to point out, part romance. “This is a story of misconduct, of power, of senators and leaders and children,” he writes in the prologue. “But it is, above all else, a love story. You cannot doubt that. You must not.” And that it is, several love stories in fact: of Teddy and Charlotte, Teddy and Conrad Pennington, and Teddy and politics. McMahon has concocted a taut thriller with twists and turns that start from the very beginning and don’t let up. Most of all, he has created a memorable cast, none of whom is without flaws. They’re all likable in their ways, but they’re also despicable at times, which gives them real depth. In the tradition of Jeffrey Archer and John Grisham, McMahon manages to tell a complicated story in a straightforward manner. Something else he does well? He leaves us wanting more. Though the end of novel comes to a satisfying, if troubling, conclusion, it also signals the beginning of a new chapter in Teddy and Charlotte’s story. We can only hope the rest of their tale is forthcoming—and that it will be as good a read as this one.
A compelling political thriller with a loyal friendship and an intriguing love affair at its center.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9798987918104
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Some Other Time Books
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
This mystery’s promising premise bogs down in an overloaded cast.
When one woman takes on another’s identity to uncover a crime, they both become suspects in a murder.
Aubrey Price and Camille Bayliss come from different worlds, only crossing paths because of the discovery that Camille’s husband, powerful lawyer Ben Bayliss, is hiding something terrible that affects them both. As the novel opens, Aubrey is driving Camille’s Range Rover, then teetering into a bar on Camille’s high heels, with Camille’s dress and credit cards and a wig that mimics Camille’s hair, pretending to be her because Ben tracks his wife’s every move and expenditure, and Camille wants to create a smokescreen while she sneaks into his office in search of evidence of that unnamed secret. But the scheme goes awry, and the women become each other’s alibis after Camille finds Ben murdered in their home. The first part of the book builds suspense and misdirection well, with Aubrey and Ben’s straight-arrow partner, Hank Landry, serving as first-person observers in some chapters while others track Camille. She’s a wealthy and privileged woman but not a happy one, stuck under the thumbs of her husband and her tyrannical father, Randall Everett, who pretty much runs their small Louisiana town. Aubrey was orphaned as a teen when her parents died in a car crash and has proudly fended for herself ever since, coming to depend on her four roommates, who have become friends. But as the cast of characters grows, it seems as if almost everyone in town has a motive for killing Ben, and the piling up of suspects and movements among different timelines can sometimes be confusing. And it all comes to a frustrating end when, after a whole school of red herrings, the solution to Ben’s murder arrives out of far left field.
This mystery’s promising premise bogs down in an overloaded cast.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780593834459
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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