A taut legal tale masterfully fused with a frightening portrayal of a killer.
In Manolakas’ thriller, a wrongfully accused man stands trial in London for serial murder.
Edward Kenworthy of Northumberland, England, has been killing young women for two decades. Each year, he selects a female victim, kidnaps and tortures her, and then drops her—bound and still breathing—into the North Sea. As a marquess, Edward is next in line for the dukedom; his brother, the firstborn son, died mysteriously while hunting. (Edward may not be willing to wait for his father’s death to inherit the title of Duke.) In the meantime, Edinburgh’s annual arts festival, which has become Edward’s hunting ground, is in full swing. His latest victim is more connected than he realizes; when inspectors start looking into her disappearance, Edward can only hope his typically scrupulous methods will keep him clear of any forensic evidence that may be discovered. Luckily for him, the police arrest someone else, a man who winds up on trial and declares his innocence to anyone who’ll listen to him. Manolakas zeroes in on a terrifying villain who’s a calculating psychopath: Already protected by his privilege (he’s evaded “sexual abuse complaints” on account of his lineage), Edward is painstakingly careful when committing his transgressions. The author opts for suspense over gratuitous violence—rather than lingering over what Edward does to the 19-year-old girl he targets, Manolakas focuses on how he patiently waits for a perfect opportunity to strike at the festival (“She would blossom during the hours he used her”). Along with Edward, the well-developed cast includes the wrongfully accused individual; two American friends (and potential victims) engaging in Edinburgh’s festivities; and the duke, who holds a shocking amount of contempt for his youngest son. The London-set trial takes center stage in the final act, and readers will be on tenterhooks waiting to see if an innocent man will serve time for Edward’s deeds.
A taut legal tale masterfully fused with a frightening portrayal of a killer.Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781628050332
Page Count: 282
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Although it lacks the surgical precision of Slaughter’s very best nightmares, this one richly earns its title.
More than a decade after a Georgia man is convicted of a monstrous double murder, an uncomfortably similar crime frees him and resets the search for the guilty party.
In Clifton County, home to the Rich Cliftons and the other Cliftons, the disappearance of teens Madison Dalrymple and Cheyenne Baker during the Halloween festivities hits everyone in North Falls hard. Working with her father, Sheriff Gerald Clifton, Deputy Emmy Lou Clifton hears the clock ticking down as she races frantically to get leads on the two friends, who’d been secretly plotting to take off for Atlanta after some undisclosed big score. As a longtime friend of Madison’s mother, Hannah, Emmy hopes against hope to find the missing teens before they’re both dead. By the time Emmy’s hopes are dashed, two unpleasantly likely suspects with strong attachments to underage sex partners have emerged, and one of them ends up in prison. In a bold move, Slaughter jumps over the next 12 years to the case of Paisley Walker, a 14-year-old whose disappearance catches the eye of retiring FBI criminal psychologist Jude Archer, who promptly crosses the country to come to Clifton County and take charge—um, that is, consult—on this heartrending new investigation. Emmy, suddenly and shockingly deprived of counsel from the parents who’ve supported her all her life, doesn’t get along any better with Jude than with the larger circle of Cliftons and the Clifton-Cliftons. But together they identify one new suspect, then another, before a shootout that arrives so early you just know there are still more surprises to come.
Although it lacks the surgical precision of Slaughter’s very best nightmares, this one richly earns its title.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9780063336773
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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
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