A perceptive thriller set in an offbeat milieu.
In the third entry in Van Soest’s series, the son of an atomic-testing veteran discovers that the side effects of radiation poisoning can last for generations.
In 1984, anti-nuclear protester Sylvia Jensen meets Norton Cramer, an ex-serviceman who was exposed to the Operation Redwing nuclear tests that were carried out in the Pacific in the 1950s. She soon realizes that she’s found a kindred spirit, both ideologically and romantically. They’re arrested while demonstrating against a plutonium storage company and weapons manufacturer, and in an ensuing court hearing, Norton makes a very public and very dangerous announcement to the world about nuclear testing. By becoming a whistleblower, he knows he’s risking the wrath of the government, but his past exposure to high levels of radiation has left him with little to lose. In 2019, at the memorial service of a fellow activist, Sylvia meets Corey Cramer, Norton’s son, whom she’d last seen when he was a toddler. Their chance meeting leaves Sylvia with a deep sense of responsibility for Corey’s well-being. When his own 4-year-old son dies of cancer, he angrily sets out on a mission to find out the truth about what happened in the Pacific all those years ago—and he becomes involved with a militant anti-nuclear protest group that plans a terrible act of violence. In this latest series installment featuring Sylvia Jensen, Van Soest presents a well-researched, compassionate, and exciting blend of social commentary and political thriller. Along the way, she also manages to offer some sharp insights into the struggles of the anti-nuclear movement and its opponents. The interwoven plotlines, which bounce back and forth between the past and present, give readers a compelling view of three distinct eras of nuclear struggle—from the initial nuclear testing, through its horrible effects, to the stories of those who must deal with the consequences many years on. In the end, Sylvia is forced to act quickly in order to honor Corey’s father as his son goes down a dark path.
A perceptive thriller set in an offbeat milieu.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62720-291-6
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Apprentice House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This mystery’s promising premise bogs down in an overloaded cast.
When one woman takes on another’s identity to uncover a crime, they both become suspects in a murder.
Aubrey Price and Camille Bayliss come from different worlds, only crossing paths because of the discovery that Camille’s husband, powerful lawyer Ben Bayliss, is hiding something terrible that affects them both. As the novel opens, Aubrey is driving Camille’s Range Rover, then teetering into a bar on Camille’s high heels, with Camille’s dress and credit cards and a wig that mimics Camille’s hair, pretending to be her because Ben tracks his wife’s every move and expenditure, and Camille wants to create a smokescreen while she sneaks into his office in search of evidence of that unnamed secret. But the scheme goes awry, and the women become each other’s alibis after Camille finds Ben murdered in their home. The first part of the book builds suspense and misdirection well, with Aubrey and Ben’s straight-arrow partner, Hank Landry, serving as first-person observers in some chapters while others track Camille. She’s a wealthy and privileged woman but not a happy one, stuck under the thumbs of her husband and her tyrannical father, Randall Everett, who pretty much runs their small Louisiana town. Aubrey was orphaned as a teen when her parents died in a car crash and has proudly fended for herself ever since, coming to depend on her four roommates, who have become friends. But as the cast of characters grows, it seems as if almost everyone in town has a motive for killing Ben, and the piling up of suspects and movements among different timelines can sometimes be confusing. And it all comes to a frustrating end when, after a whole school of red herrings, the solution to Ben’s murder arrives out of far left field.
This mystery’s promising premise bogs down in an overloaded cast.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780593834459
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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