A terrific beach read, filled with romance, revenge, and hilarious commentary on the artist versus the art.
In Juliano’s punchy crime thriller, a couple of mostly harmless beach bums find themselves wrapped up in an abduction scheme.
Billy Winslow is a small-town cook with big-time aspirations and a sketchy past, with eclectic looks to match. He lives a simple life with his girlfriend, Rita Polli, an ex-model who’s often compared to a goddess. Together, they reside in a humble Florida beach house. When Billy gets fired, he begins working at a different restaurant with Van, his longtime frenemy, who proposes a kidnapping plot to Billy. The plan is simple, so he says: They’ll kidnap Steve, an arrogant teenaged waiter at the restaurant, and hold him for ransom. Surely, Steve’s former pro-wrestler father will pay up before anything goes south; at least that’s what Billy hopes. He isn’t immediately on board with the plan, but his curiosity gets the better of him once he realizes it could provide grist for a best-selling novel. As he writes chapter after chapter, the kidnapping moves ahead. Billy is suspicious of a potential double-cross situation, but he doesn’t quite know what to do, aside from living vicariously through his fictionalized alter ego, Flash Shackelford, a “heavy hitter” who relies on his heroic girlfriend to solve all his problems. Using the sharp prose of an old-timey noir (“In the wet, windswept night, Flash thought about beginnings. He wondered if he’d begun badly, and if he had to end up that way”), the author imbues this narrative with personality. The novel’s colorful cast of characters includes all the staples readers might expect for a devilishly fun heist: a couple of brainless goons, a hulking macho type, a mysterious yet trigger-happy ex-military expert, a drunk screwball simply referred to as “the young bum,” and Keller, a life-sized action figure with a vendetta against Billy. Readers will practically smell the ocean and see the tanned, rippling muscles in Juliano’s gritty Florida caper.
A terrific beach read, filled with romance, revenge, and hilarious commentary on the artist versus the art.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2022
ISBN: 9798986083704
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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