Though a slow start dims its shine, Howell’s freshman effort satisfies without indulging in dramatics.
In Howell’s debut thriller about terrorism, conspiracy and corruption, a former government operative with a troubled past teams up with an FBI agent to untangle a dangerous web that stretches from Afghanistan to Washington.
A leak in the highest echelons of government sends intelligence agent Matt J. back into Afghanistan as an undercover private security officer with orders to collect intel on every congressional delegation visiting the country. While providing routine security detail for an anti-war congresswoman, an ambush leaves Afghani civilians dead and Matt facing a federal indictment. Whoever is leaking information is in league with the terrorists, but Matt doesn’t have the chance to prove it. Instead, he fakes his death and goes off the grid. Years later, a suspicious foreigner raises Matt’s hackles, and he’s suddenly back in the game, teaming up with FBI agent Samantha “Sam” Calvert to unearth a terrorist network. Their primary clue is a list containing 10 names and 10 cities. Someone higher up, though, doesn’t want Matt or Sam to discover the truth and repeatedly throws up roadblocks to their investigation. The whole mess is connected somehow—the botched security mission, the congresswoman, the list and maybe even the government itself. Howell knows his stuff and incorporates a plethora of detail on military movements in Afghanistan, government’s corrupt inner workings and intelligence gathering. The pacing slows, though, when he launches into unnecessary back story on secondary characters or unimportant information, and too many characters make it difficult to keep track of individual subplots. That aside, Howell’s gift for snappy dialogue and intricate plot twists keeps the story moving, and his timely, though familiar, theme of government corruption, negligence and political correctness involving the war on terror hits home. Fans of Tom Clancy’s meticulous page-turners will appreciate the book’s sublime detail and cracking wit.
Though a slow start dims its shine, Howell’s freshman effort satisfies without indulging in dramatics.Pub Date: May 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-1461126003
Page Count: 434
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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