Dogged, likable detectives and a crafty reporter skillfully deliver justice in this dense but engaging thriller.
A vicious killer terrorizes a Southern California housing project in Celley’s crime novel.
Set in Los Angeles on dry, desolate Sultan Road,the author’s third suspense tale begins at a nightclub where an assault involving three women escalates into a homicide case when a mangled corpse of one of the participants turns up in a nearby parking lot. Rugged, former middleweight boxer–turned–Los Angeles police detective Sgt. Carlos Aguilar, and his partner, Harry Lee, quickly spring into action to investigate the crime, initially suspecting the involvement of rival gangs nearby. The detectives soon learn that the victim, Lisa Nguyen, was an accountant employed by a property management firm in charge of several local housing projects; the structures provide residences for lower-income artists, elderly people, and families who are receiving government-aid subsidies. After some digging, however, the cops discover that some of that government funding has suspiciously gone missing. It turns out that there’s another factor at play, which surfaces after Aguilar and Jay Phillips, a neophyte newspaper reporter looking for a scoop, realize the significance of the housing project’s location. It turns out that Sultan Road occupies a stretch of highly coveted land, and it’s considered to be a potentially lucrative spot for residential high-rises—or, just maybe, a mayor-supported sports stadium. However, as the sleuths continue their work, they face a very real threat from a man who’s known throughout Mexico as “El Puma.” Aguilar and Jay believe the man was hired away from Mexican drug cartels by a real estate developer to scare off locals with a campaign of terror and violence, the likes of which the area has never seen before.
A shady security service, corporate corruption, more grisly murders, and some dogged spadework by the detectives and the indefatigable newsman result in a breathless tale of crime, corruption, and, ultimately, justice. With its attention-grabbing premise and clean, readable prose, the story becomes increasingly compelling as the main characters dig up bits and pieces of the truth. One of the novel’s best attributes is its brisk momentum; from the very first page, Celley’s story wastes no time getting right to the heart of the crimes and the motivations behind them. The author effectively sweeps readers into a tangled mess of white-collar deceit, embezzlement, crooked politics, and organized crime. The two cops are appealing enough on their own, but Jay, as a skateboard-riding millennial reporter, has enough brio to command a murder mystery of his very own. Celley is based in Los Angeles himself, and he draws from contemporary headlines as he crafts this twisty but believable yarn; in doing so, he taps into the reality of greedy developers sandbagging property owners to vacate the land that they desire. The story is perhaps a bit more expository than is strictly necessary for a thriller due to the complexity of the plot. However, readers likely won’t mind the circuitous path that this absorbing story takes.
Dogged, likable detectives and a crafty reporter skillfully deliver justice in this dense but engaging thriller.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64718-695-1
Page Count: 406
Publisher: Booklocker.com
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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