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The Orientation of Dylan Woodger: A Central New York Crime Story

A somber, absorbing mystery of vengeance and rediscovery.

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A college student wants payback from those responsible for his memory loss and agonizing torture in this grim debut novel.

The last thing that Boston native Dylan J. Woodger remembers is his mother dropping him off at Hamilton College in New York. He goes to sleep and wakes up, three years later, in the woods, tied up, with a gunshot wound in his shoulder. It gets worse. Members of the Utica Mafia grab him and demand their stolen three million dollars. Dylan doesn’t remember stealing anything or really any part of his life from the last three years. The gangsters torture and rape him, but he avoids being murdered by promising to find the real thief. He also wants retribution for himself; apparently, someone gave him an amnesia-inducing experimental drug. Back at Hamilton, Dylan bumps into friends he doesn’t remember and reignites a romance with a forgotten girlfriend. Most unsettling of all are his disturbing links to a White supremacist group and a fire on campus that killed a student. Though he gradually comes to terms with being a rape survivor, he may not like what’s hiding in his murky past. Obele’s mystery is persistently engaging. Dylan unearths shock after shock, either through others’ stories or his own brief, intermittent flashbacks. The novel touches on serious issues, including sexual assault, misogyny, and racism. While the plot grows repetitive (everyone knows Dylan is “the guy with amnesia,” but they’re continually surprised that he can’t remember events), Obele’s descriptive prose ably tackles complex concepts, like the cost of revenge.

A somber, absorbing mystery of vengeance and rediscovery.

Pub Date: April 5, 2022

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 377

Publisher: Fischer House Publications

Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022

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THE MAN WHO DIED SEVEN TIMES

A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.

A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.

Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”

A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.

Pub Date: July 29, 2025

ISBN: 9781805335436

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025

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THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

From the Thursday Murder Club series , Vol. 1

A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.

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Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.

The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.

A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking

Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020

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