An absorbing moral drama with great depth.
In this novel, a murder suspect returns to his native town in Illinois nearly 40 years after the crime, spurring the local police chief to doggedly reignite the investigation.
In 1959, Keelan Putnam is trying to straighten out the crooked path of his life—a petty criminal since he was a child, he manages to land both a wife, Mae Rowan, and a job in his native Yonders, Illinois. This sleepy town, which “only made the papers when there were fires, murders or some silliness,” is brought to vivid life by Noyes. But when Keelan suddenly loses his job, he angrily heads to Earl Wyatt’s farmhouse. Keelan had sold stolen goods to Earl before and knew he kept a considerable amount of cash at home. That plan goes terribly wrong, though, and Keelan ends up murdering not only Earl, but also his wife, Esther, and his daughter, Rachel, a “feeble-minded” girl. Keelan catches a lucky break when Freeman Lane, a scrawny Black kid, suddenly and inexplicably confesses to the crime. Decades later, in 1998, Keelan returns to Yonders, arousing the scrutiny of Buster Lawton, who at the time of the killings was a rookie cop and is now the chief of police. Lawton is convinced Keelan is responsible for the Wyatt murders.
In this complex but never superfluously convoluted drama, Noyes sensitively charts the killings’ ramifications, which crescendo nearly 40 years later. At the heart of the story is the fragility of a person’s destiny and the myriad ways in which a minor setback can snowball into a tragedy—a gripping idea unfurled by the author with considerable dramatic power. Keelan was not destined to be a criminal, let alone a murderer, a fact his mother, Etna, affectingly reflects on: “Seemed like only yesterday, as folks say, that those little kids were running in and out, playing cowboys and Indians, shooting toy guns and whooping it up out back in the alley. Jezzie knew Keelan when he was still little and good, before he turned.” There are some small missteps on Noyes’ part—he tends to indulge in heavy-handed attempts at cheap symbolism. Keelan’s mother likes to discuss her own hometown of Regret, Kentucky, a clumsy foreshadowing of her son’s fate. In addition, a figure referred to as “the Devil” makes several melodramatic appearances and issues cryptic moral counsel: “You can’t rest until the reckoning.” These transparent literary devices are especially unfortunate because the story doesn’t need them—readers will be moved by Noyes’ extraordinary blend of a crime drama and an almost biblical tale of the elusiveness of moral redemption. As captivating as Lawton is—an invariant defender of justice in a morally ambiguous world—the most subtly drawn character is Keelan, a darkly violent man who, under a different set of circumstances, might have become a decent one. This is a sumptuously engrossing novel, one bursting with insights and a keen sense of the delicate balance between luck and moral choice that defines a life.
An absorbing moral drama with great depth.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9788409542918
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Trebol Editions
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.
Following her father’s sudden death, Aisling Swann is secretly horrified when her mother begins to date again—and she quickly becomes suspicious of this new flame.
Four years ago: A mysterious male narrator reflects upon his relationship with his wife—along with a few pointed comments about how she is aging. It quickly becomes apparent that this self-proclaimed “very pleasant” man is not who he seems; he already has a girlfriend on the side, and he’s playing both women with sob stories about his job and his traumatic past while taking money from them. Even as they get more and more frustrated with his lack of communication during ever-lengthening absences, he still gives them what they want: “a top-notch husband.” In the present day, Ash Swann; her brother, Arlo; and their mother, Nina, mourn the loss of her charismatic father, Paddy, a successful chef with a chain of lucrative restaurants. Nina receives a sympathy note from a man who claims to have worked closely with Paddy in the industry, which leads to a robust online flirtation that moves into the real world about a year after her husband’s death. Ash is living at home, mired in grief as well as her own mental health struggles, and she’s none too happy to see her mom dating—but particularly this handsome, egregiously suave Nick Radcliffe. Ash begins to notice some inconsistencies with his stories and his past, so she enlists Paddy’s ex-girlfriend Jane to help her investigate. Meanwhile, Ash’s story continues to intercut that of the mysterious man who is now married to his former girlfriend—and still up to his old tricks. Jewell’s cutting between past and present certainly allows revelations to ooze out at a slow, controlled pace; even as the reader makes obvious connections, the full picture remains obscure. Jewell has written some incredibly engaging and strong female characters, Nina, Ash, and Jane foremost among them. What would it have been like to split the narrative between them instead of giving so much voice—and thus narrative power—to the male antagonist?
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781668033876
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
