An intriguing but uneven spy tale.
A comic espionage novel reimagines two famous art curators as wartime spies.
Hitler has risen to power in Germany, and America’s Public Hero No. 1, J. Edgar Hoover, suspects that the Nazi dictator is sending spies to the United States disguised as avant-garde artists. In order to sniff out the spy ring, Hoover seeks out two women known for discovering (and bedding) the finest artists in New York City: Baroness Hilla Rebay and Peggy Guggenheim. “We’ll put you through our Counter-Spy Training Program and you’ll learn how to smash Nazi spy rings,” Hoover’s subordinate and lover, Clyde Tolson, pitches them. “Publicity should be good for your museums’ images. Nothing wrong with making a buck.” The only problem? These two high-society women have an intensely personal rivalry that makes it difficult for them to be in the same room without literally punching each other in the nose. Hoover brokers peace between the heiresses for the sake of the country, and the two of them are soon serving the FBI as a dynamic duo aligned against America’s greatest enemies, including Hitler, Stalin, the Japanese, and various traitorous forces at work within the country’s borders. Soon, they are operating undercover at Nazi meetings, tailing spies, and preventing presidential assassinations on the floor of Congress. Along the way, they meet fellow masters of espionage like the handsome but chauvinistic Agent X-9; British spy Jonquil “Junk” Bond (father of James); and a pair of “Special Agent Super Sluts” named Bambi and Knockers. But do the two protagonists have what it takes to save the homeland from the most dangerous Soviet spy the FBI has ever come up against—a man known only as “the Pigeon”?
The inventive premise suggests a fun thriller set in the art world of the 1940s, and the prose is richly inflected with arresting details. But ultimately, this is a farce, replete with broad sex jokes, thin characters, and a ton of slapstick. (In the very first scene, Hilla flips Hoover over her shoulder for pointing his gun at her. He then slips on multiple banana peels.) Powers does not make much of an effort to render the historical characters recognizable in any way. Everyone is extremely horny, very violent, and speaks in the same gangster movie banter. Here, Guggenheim explains the Equal Rights Amendment to X-9: “ ‘Whaddya mean, an Equal Rights Amendment?’ a belligerent X-9 demanded. ‘It means that us gals get everything you guys get. We can do anything you can do and do it better, and we can go anywhere you go.’ ‘Ya mean ya want to go to the can with us?’ ” What’s more, the story is exceedingly episodic, and it is not until the final chapter that the author ties the various plotlines together. Given the extreme vintage of the humor and the book’s 410-page length, many readers will struggle to get to the end.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781604893397
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Livingston Press
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
This mystery’s promising premise bogs down in an overloaded cast.
When one woman takes on another’s identity to uncover a crime, they both become suspects in a murder.
Aubrey Price and Camille Bayliss come from different worlds, only crossing paths because of the discovery that Camille’s husband, powerful lawyer Ben Bayliss, is hiding something terrible that affects them both. As the novel opens, Aubrey is driving Camille’s Range Rover, then teetering into a bar on Camille’s high heels, with Camille’s dress and credit cards and a wig that mimics Camille’s hair, pretending to be her because Ben tracks his wife’s every move and expenditure, and Camille wants to create a smokescreen while she sneaks into his office in search of evidence of that unnamed secret. But the scheme goes awry, and the women become each other’s alibis after Camille finds Ben murdered in their home. The first part of the book builds suspense and misdirection well, with Aubrey and Ben’s straight-arrow partner, Hank Landry, serving as first-person observers in some chapters while others track Camille. She’s a wealthy and privileged woman but not a happy one, stuck under the thumbs of her husband and her tyrannical father, Randall Everett, who pretty much runs their small Louisiana town. Aubrey was orphaned as a teen when her parents died in a car crash and has proudly fended for herself ever since, coming to depend on her four roommates, who have become friends. But as the cast of characters grows, it seems as if almost everyone in town has a motive for killing Ben, and the piling up of suspects and movements among different timelines can sometimes be confusing. And it all comes to a frustrating end when, after a whole school of red herrings, the solution to Ben’s murder arrives out of far left field.
This mystery’s promising premise bogs down in an overloaded cast.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780593834459
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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