A satisfying mystery that leaves one hoping for another installment in the story of Amber Torley.
The disappearance of two young girls is at the heart of Redhead’s (Dead Man Calling, 2012) engaging new mystery.
High school student Melissa Gardner disappeared without a trace from her seemingly happy, middle-class family. There are no leads to follow, despite a dedicated effort by the local police department. Rebellious Amber Torley is intrigued and mildly concerned, but it’s not until her own best friend goes missing that she launches herself into the investigation. Amber, a troubled yet smart young woman, lives in an abusive household with her parents and younger sister. She turns to crime, drugs and sex in an attempt to earn money and escape from her violent father and mousy mother and sister. While she hates her home, she’s one misstep away from being kicked out of the house and ending up on the streets, in prison or dead. School is no better than home. Amber is on the verge of being expelled, she refuses to apply herself in the classroom, and she’s often the ringleader behind various acts of theft and vandalism. However, the mysterious disappearances change Amber’s life in ways she could never have anticipated. The solid presence and trust of handsome inspector Robert Lambert provide Amber with much-needed emotional support, pushing her to step toward a brighter future. The investigation not only turns up the truth behind the disappearances, but it reveals monumental secrets about Amber’s past that provide her with an opportunity to escape and start again. The transition from truant to success story isn’t easy, and Amber struggles to find her place in the world. Redhead’s mystery serves as a wonderful modern and gritty fairy tale. Amber’s thoughts and emotions are clearly drawn, rendering her outwardly ridiculous decisions almost understandable. The supporting cast of characters is strong and believable, though none truly share Amber’s spotlight. The author keeps the narrative moving, tying up the loose ends while resisting the urge to provide a typical “fairy tale” love story at its conclusion.
A satisfying mystery that leaves one hoping for another installment in the story of Amber Torley.Pub Date: June 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1477680445
Page Count: 350
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It's hard to read but hard to look away from.
When two women who share a birthday meet, a journalist becomes the subject of her own true-crime mystery.
On their 45th birthdays, Josie Fair and Alix Summer meet at a pub and discover they were born not only on the same day, but in the same hospital. Alix is a successful journalist, and Josie convinces Alix that her story is worth telling: Josie met her husband when she was 13 and he was 40. “I can see that maybe I was being used, that maybe I was even being groomed?” she confesses to Alix. “But that feeling of being powerful, right at the start, when I was still in control. I miss that sometimes. I really do. And what I’d like, more than anything, is to get it back.” From this premise Alix creates a Netflix series, Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin! which investigates Josie’s life as she reconciles what happened to her as a teen and seeks a new path. With the story unfinished, the narrative unfolds in the present tense, with prose that jingles like song lyrics: “He turns to see if the girl is behind him, and sees her wishy-washy, wavy-wavy, in double vision through the glass windows of the hotel.” Alix is both intrigued and repulsed by Josie, but she initially gives her the benefit of the doubt. After all, Alix’s husband, Nathan, has a drinking problem, and Alix knows what it’s like to be reluctant to leave a bad situation. But Josie seems more interested in being part of Alix’s seemingly glamorous life than she is in fixing her own, and when three people end up dead and Alix’s life is turned upside down, the evidence points to Josie—and turns the TV series into a murder mystery. Transcripts from Alix’s interviews alternate with the narrative, offering increasingly varied perspectives on Josie’s story as told by her neighbors, friends, and family members. With so many versions of events, the ending shatters, leaving readers to decide whose is the truth.
It's hard to read but hard to look away from.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781982179007
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.
A bear is hunting prey in Wyoming’s Bighorns. And not just any bear.
It’s bad enough that Clay Hutmacher, who manages the Double Diamond Ranch, has lost his son, Clay Jr., to a vicious attack by a grizzly bear. What’s much worse is that Clay Jr.—who’d been about to pop the question to game warden Joe Pickett’s daughter, Sheridan—is only the first of the victims over an exceptionally broad geographical area. Marshal Marvin Bertignolli is clawed and bitten to death over in Hanna. Sgt. Ryan Winner is found bleeding out north of Rawlins. Former Twelve Sleep County prosecutor Dulcie Schalk, one of two survivors of an ambush, doesn’t survive her final encounter. The four experts chosen to kill the grizzly rope Joe into their expedition, but since their quarry keeps turning up far from the last sighting, the most meaningful confrontation the Predator Attack Team has is with a pair of Mama Bears, animal rights activists who demand due process for Tisiphone, as they’ve dubbed the presumed killer. Box, who’s far too canny to leave Tisiphone alone on center stage, follows Joe’s old antagonist Dallas Cates as the ex–rodeo star is released from prison and embarks on his revenge tour, which takes him to Lee Ogburn-Russell, an inventor whose life Dallas saved, and Axel Soledad, a correspondent who shares so many enemies with Dallas that he suggests they go after them together. Franchise fans will appreciate new details about Joe’s complicated family, the obligatory high-country landscapes, and yet another corrupt law enforcer.
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593331347
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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