Sufficiently gripping and intricate to excuse the slow reveal.
Corruption and the disappearance of a former student bring a growing sense of unease to a college town in Brookhouse’s novel.
Lenny Grey is a student, “when he can afford it.” He attends Prester, located in Prester, North Carolina, and considered one of the most prestigious private colleges in the South. He has only a few courses to complete before being handed an English degree, but he’s struggling to find the funds to graduate despite working side jobs as a waiter and handyman. As a prizewinning essayist, he is asked by the college to tutor student athletes. The school has a history of not admitting “more than the token Black,” but an exception is made for Wallace Wallace, a basketball star who struggles academically. Lenny is unofficially tasked with writing Wallace’s papers—in other words, cheating. In addition to racism and corruption, Prester is also dogged by the disappearance of Haley Flagg, a college dropout. After a private detective is hired and the town is found to be a font of unsavory activity, none of its citizens is beyond suspicion. The prose is an urgent machine-gun rattle of short, precise, descriptive sentences: “Home again. Maisie’s Bug was behind the trailer. Lenny lifted the tarp.” This sense of immediacy is tempered by occasional passages of ponderous, atmospheric prose: “Once upon a time seasonal darkness relieved only by the thin flame of a candle provided opportunity for contemplation and ruminating on the baffling questions of mortality.” The plot unfolds at a leisurely pace—perhaps too leisurely for some readers. The unrushed narrative provides opportunities to get to know some of the oddball townsfolk the author has created, such as the controversial artist Zephyr Harrison, who is paid to paint some young girls: “If Daddy wanted prim purity and the sloe-eyed family spaniel, he should have commissioned someone else.” Drawing upon this cast of strange, psychologically convincing characters, Brookhouse cleverly pulls back the skin of small-town America to reveal deeply rooted racism and multiple layers of sleaze. The story is unpredictable, throwing in a delicious plot twist that will keep readers guessing until the end.
Sufficiently gripping and intricate to excuse the slow reveal.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781734499520
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Safe Harbor Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2024
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.
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