Unsavory characters immersed in giddy melodrama, both in and out of the courtroom.
In Manolakas’ legal thriller, the suspicious death of an actress turns the spotlight on the seediest parts of Hollywood.
After a film in production suffers a fatal on-set accident, actress Kaitlin O’Keefe takes over a lead role. In the process, she becomes entangled in sexual affairs with both the director, Nick Claren, and her entertainment lawyer, Josh Stein. Everyone is shocked when, one day, Kaitlin dies in an apparent fall. The Malibu detectives’ ensuing investigation uncovers evidence that suggests someone killed her. An arrest and a murder trial follow, but it’s perhaps not the slam-dunk that the prosecutor was hoping for. For starters, there are a number of viable suspects, including the two men she was sleeping with, as well as their wives; Kaitlin even had a stalker who’d been obsessed with her since the two shared a scene in an acting class. The attorneys on both sides of the courtroom (ADA Duane Brown and “seasoned” criminal defense lawyer Greg Sobel), through direct and cross-examinations, threaten to expose scandals and corruption that surround the moviemaking business on the Pacific Coast. Even with half of Manolakas’ novel focused on the murder trial, the narrative constitutes a thoroughly entertaining soap opera. Most in the cast are deliciously unlikable as they bask in self-indulgence and apathy, including the presiding judge, who seems more concerned with his personal enjoyment than the legal proceedings. (“Ashby grinned inside. He had a golden opportunity to bring down this arrogant little star of his own personal tabloid show. ‘I have to agree with A.D.A. Brown, here, Mr. Sobel. No ROR, no bail. Mr. Stein is remanded into custody pending trial.’”) The author’s brisk narrative and compact chapters consistently fascinate as they spotlight the characters’ intersecting lives and explore all the ingredients that make up a trial. While some readers will guess the ending, it likely won’t diminish their overall satisfaction.
Unsavory characters immersed in giddy melodrama, both in and out of the courtroom.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2021
ISBN: 9781628050264
Page Count: 454
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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