A compulsively readable police procedural adorned with Grand Guignol trappings.
Multiple miscreants plague a Northumberland cop who’s already struggling with personal demons in a second case that weaves horror, history, and conventional detection into its police procedural foundation.
Several characters are dealing with the detritus of police officer Salome Delany’s debut in When the Bough Breaks (2024). Sal successfully exonerated her stepfather, Wulf Hagman, who’d been accused of the murder of her mother, Trina. But she struggles with loss, the demands of her children, and accelerating harassment by her boss, Magda Quinn. Hagman is equally distraught as he struggles mightily to re-enter society. He’s become close friends with vengeful Theo Myers, similarly adrift since his recent release from a prison sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. The kinetic plot shuffles these components in short, punchy chapters that pinpoint each location and time, adding grisly new crimes and using the characters’ anxiety to amp up the adrenaline level. A prologue depicts an anonymous man tortured by a “creature.” Later, Sal has a traumatic encounter with a man near death, “like an electrified cadaver.” Is this the same person? Keep reading. Shocks are delivered by a “chamber of horrors” and Blindworm, a medieval torturer rooted in history and revived in a cosplay game that Theo’s obsessed with. The wildly discursive plot links Sal’s kids and surrogate mother, Dagmara, the solicitor responsible for Hagman’s exoneration, to a far-flung web of other characters. It’s all held together by Mark’s urgent, rhythmic prose and incisive character portraits. Those who persist will be rewarded with the long-awaited solution to Trina’s murder.
A compulsively readable police procedural adorned with Grand Guignol trappings.Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781448315321
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Hair-raising fun!
Two strange deaths in the desert pose tough questions in this fifth Nora Kelly adventure.
In a remote section of New Mexico, a woman walks alone into the blistering desert heat. In a trance, she ignores her horrific thirst and discards her clothing, piece by piece, until she lies down and dies. Five years later, a video crew with a drone discovers her skeletal remains, which they promptly report. Agent Corrie Swanson is part of an FBI team that heads out into the bleak badlands to investigate. She shares a photo with anthropologist Nora Kelly, who is especially intrigued by the pair of rare green lightning stones found under the skeleton. The woman died with perfect health, yet no one had reported her missing. DNA confirms the 40-ish woman was Molly Vine, an apparently vibrant person who “wouldn’t just throw her life away.” Then the FBI finds another body, another woman, same trail of clothing and pair of green lightning stones, but her death is much more recent. And that’s just the beginning of a tale that gets curiouser and curiouser with discoveries of ancient mass murders and modern mind control. Corrie and Nora are a perfect pair: smart and professional, and with bravery they will need in abundance. At one point, they compare approaches: As an anthropologist, Nora is trained not to judge; as an FBI agent, Corrie is trained to judge. As they delve into the investigation, Nora’s younger brother, Skip, and his billionaire buddy, Edison Nash, complicate matters immensely. They decide to go camping and investigate on their own, and Skip reminds Nash that taking ancient artifacts like an obsidian arrowhead is a felony. But as strange shadows lurk around their faded campfire at night, they learn that getting in trouble with the law is the least of their worries. The landscape imbues a special flavor to this engrossing yarn—the adobe kivas with signs of thousand-year-old murders, the slot canyons, the changing terrain as desert yields to ponderosa pine—and the sandstorms that can abort a rescue. In this setting, an unknown enemy causes cringeworthy violence that the heroes may have to face alone. But as Corrie tells Nora, “We’ve got a gun. We’ve got a knife. Now we need a plan.”
Hair-raising fun!Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781538765821
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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