An absorbing kidnapping tale inspired by true life and steeped in bleakness.
In this thriller, the shady past of a New Zealand journalist-turned–aspiring-novelist provokes his young daughter’s abduction.
Someone is watching writer Will McCormick on his property, where he lives with his wife, Maddy, and their two daughters. He subsequently receives two messages, both likely scrawled in blood: “LIAR” on a scrap of paper tied to a fence post and “AN EYE FOR AN EYE” on a mirror in his house. He knows these are threats stemming from his past. Years ago, in 2000, Will was a war correspondent in Cambodia. That’s where he met Bill Bradley, who ultimately convinced Will to become a CIA asset, with Bill as his handler. This proved beneficial to Will’s journalism career, but it was his Pulitzer Prize–winning story that changed everything. Events in his article didn’t happen quite the way he reported them, which may have amped up two countries’ serious conflict. In 2016 Queenstown, those two threats that Will discovers become all too real when someone kidnaps his oldest child, 5-year-old Lizzy. The abductors seem to be out for revenge, wanting Will to confess his apparent lies. As he’s hesitant to relay his dreadful history to the local authorities, Will goes out on his own to rescue Lizzy and stumbles on a few shocking—and unwelcome—truths. Eaton heavily ties his fictional story to real-world events, most notably 9/11. He manages this shrewdly and respectfully: Will is essentially an outsider, feeling sympathy for the victims of the 9/11 tragedy and witnessing firsthand America’s aggressive response. The book is understandably grim, as Will’s relentless guilt largely propels his first-person narrative. He also has his faults, including that he’s been unfaithful to Maddy. The story is swift and taut even as it details vibrant surroundings, such as Paris’ charcoal-colored, red- and gold-streaked sky. By the final act, Will has a revelation or two that some readers will predict, but the coda is one that reverberates.
An absorbing kidnapping tale inspired by true life and steeped in bleakness. (acknowledgements)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-08-213466-1
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.
Second of the Walter Nash thrillers—following Nash Falls (2025)—in which the remade hero seeks vengeance.
Due to urgent circumstances, Nash has bulked himself up to become the “muscled and tatted fighting machine” now known as Dillon Hope. His antagonist is Victoria Steers, a global drug dealer who wants him dead. Not realizing his new identity, she enlists Hope to free her mother, Masuyo, from a prison in Myanmar. As an incentive, she shoots one of her associates and threatens to frame Hope for the murder unless he complies. She also wants him to find Nash. He in turn wants to kill Victoria to avenge the death of his innocent daughter, Maggie. “If I go down,” he muses, “I’m taking others with me. Starting with Victoria Steers.” He learns that Victoria had killed all her siblings to eliminate business competition. But as heartless as Victoria is, her mother, Masuyo, is even worse. In league with the Chinese government in a perverse plan to kill as many Americans as possible through fentanyl overdose, she shows contempt for Victoria for her perceived weaknesses. Readers won’t find many happy family relationships here: mother-daughter, father-son, husband-wife—all fraught. Hope’s employer, who accompanies him to Myanmar, is a billionaire chief executive with a dodgy past (i.e., probably killed his father). And there’s a mega-billionaire with an astronomical IQ and ditch-deep morals who, putting it mildly, does not have America’s best interests at heart. As a teenager, he’d defeated two world chess champions; as an adult, he regards his dealings with the world in terms of master chess moves. Only one character seems truly decent and credible—Hiroko, Victoria’s former nanny and lifelong companion, who provides Hope with valuable insights into the Steers’ background, which is partly Chinese. Searing grudges, simple evil, and not-so-simple misunderstandings carry the cast through this complex, action-packed plot. This sequel ties out the loose ends dangling in Nash Falls, which would be helpful to read first. To get to the requisite ending, though, Baldacci takes pains to surprise the reader. It works but often feels forced.
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781538758021
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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