A compelling psychological tale that makes a well-worn formula feel new.
In Savage’s thriller, a troubled woman’s grip on reality loosens after her former lover moves into the neighborhood—with fatal consequences.
Paula Hickman has led a difficult life, despite the fact she’s the heiress to a fortune. A series of traumas, including the deaths of her mother and sister in a car accident, her father’s suicide, and the apparent murder of her college roommate, have all taken a psychological toll. She’s now married to Alan, an academic at the University of California, Los Angeles, and she spends her days quietly battling suicidal depression. However, after her old flame, Anthony Mills, moves in across the street, her life becomes altogether more complicated. Specifically, she thinks that she and Anthony’s wife, Hannah, look identical in every detail—but no one else sees the resemblance. Paula agrees to visit therapist Claire Horst who, despite her benevolent approach to her patient’s mental frailty, isn’t at all what she seems. When Paula is arrested for a murder that she doesn’t remember committing, she begins to question her sanity; she had the motive and the means to commit the crime, and she has no idea what she was doing when it took place. With the aid of an acerbic lawyer and the executor of her father’s estate, she sets about clearing her name. Over the course of this book, Savage, who previously wrote The Last Getaway (2019), offers a brisk read that leans more toward dialogue than descriptive prose. Indeed, the author keeps the narrative padding to a minimum, overall, mirroring the lean, noir classics that clearly inspired him. What’s most impressive about the novel, though, is its sensitivity toward mental health. The basic plot, in which an amnesiac protagonist can’t remember whether he or she committed murder, is hardly a new one; see Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 film Spellbound, for example. However, Savage’s deft portrayal of a descent into delusion is convincing.
A compelling psychological tale that makes a well-worn formula feel new.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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