This entertaining sequel and its vibrant, now-familiar characters will surely leave readers craving more.
Nerves are frayed in New York City when an affluent celebrity’s murder threatens to ignite a race war in Myers’ thriller series installment.
For some time, white supremacist groups have been trying to assassinate the Black Camelots—a group of successful Black friends and those close to them. When a white supremacist hit squad kills Phaethon Malone, a beloved Jamaican-born pro athlete and humanitarian (and friend of the Camelots), Jamaican gang leaders in New York demand revenge. NYPD Chief of Detectives Teddy Walker wants to prevent a race war and seeks help from the Society of Protectors, whose combat-trained members have thwarted previous assassination attempts. Meanwhile, California Democratic senator Janet Bivens eyes the presidential election, intending to run against Republican candidate Digby Yates. While Janet has indirect ties to the Society of Protectors, Digby is an unsavory sort (years ago, he helped cover up the fatal police beating of a Black college football player). As the Black Camelots mourn their loss, someone plans a lethal assault in hopes of turning New Yorkers against one another. Myers, as per usual, loads this story with memorable characters, both returning and new. A few appearances are akin to cameos; others spawn engaging subplots that, unfortunately, lead nowhere. In some ways, this novel feels transitional, carrying over conflicts from the preceding installment and unspooling new plot threads, such as a Black Camelot member’s crucial political decision, for a sequel to pick up later. Still, the tension rarely lets up as Walker struggles to maintain peace, the Society of the Protectors’ enigmatic leader (“the Voice”) interrogates an uncooperative killer, and the baddies put a master assassin (“one of the most feared and renowned in the business”) on their payroll. The large, dynamic cast, abetted by deftly succinct writing and short chapters, propels the narrative with an impressively swift momentum.
This entertaining sequel and its vibrant, now-familiar characters will surely leave readers craving more.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2022
ISBN: 9781088009291
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Fero Scitus
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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