An attention-grabbing novel, but one that’s likely too dark and dispiriting for mainstream audiences.
In Marshall-Smith’s thriller, a young mother and her daughter flee an abusive husband, only to wind up in an even more dangerous predicament.
Twenty-one-year-old Emily Miller runs a small day care for preschoolers while hiding out from her violent husband, Lee. After he puts Emily in the hospital for the second time, she obtains a restraining order against him. At this point, Emily’s mother, a successful real estate agent, sets her up rent-free in a small duplex, where Emily and her 4-year-old daughter, Jenna, should be safe from Lee. One day, Emily is with Jenna in the backyard when Jenna is stung by a hornet (unbeknownst to them, a large nest is hanging next to the house). Emily calls AAA Exterminators, and 30-something Jake Clayton arrives shortly afterward. Emily’s first impression is that Jake “looks like a robot version of a cowboy trying to be classy—blown dry hair and cologne.” But she’s intrigued, and there’s an immediate mutual attraction between them. When Jake returns in the evening to “neutralize” the hornet’s nest, Lee suddenly appears, banging on the locked door. Jake then must help Emily and Jenna escape, knowing the unhinged Lee will be in hot pursuit. These unexpected events usher in a new and consistently chaotic life for Emily, Jenna, and Jake. Emily and Jake alternate narrating Marshall-Smith’s disturbing thriller about a woman trying to escape a codependent and increasingly abusive relationship. Jake and Emily are presented as two lost souls struggling against their individual demons. In Emily’s case, she needs alcohol to calm her constant fears, while Jake struggles to suppress his past proclivity for violence. Readers will find it chilling to witness Jake’s psyche gradually deteriorate as he morphs from Emily’s protector into her controlling captor. The descriptive prose contains enough excitement to keep the pages turning, although repeated references to Emily’s daughter being overweight are puzzling, disconcerting distractions.
An attention-grabbing novel, but one that’s likely too dark and dispiriting for mainstream audiences.Pub Date: July 21, 2026
ISBN: 9798896363460
Page Count: 360
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
