This razor-sharp, tech-laden tale proves both convincing and exhilarating.
Cyberharassment against a Hollywood businessman quickly evolves into coercion and physical attacks in this debut techno-thriller.
Someone has apparently targeted Dante Ellis, founder and CEO of a successful advertising company. Soon after he receives a vaguely intimidating text, a deepfake appears online—digitally altered footage showing him engaged in a vile sex act. There’s no shortage of people potentially harboring animosity against Dante: a fired employee, an industry rival, etc. But tracking down the anonymous aggressor isn’t easy even after this harassment turns into overt threats. Dark Messiah, which seems to be a group of hackers, soon takes credit. But Dante isn’t the only cybervictim in Hollywood. A SWAT team storms the home of information technology guy Gary Wexler on the basis of a false report. Aspiring singer Briana Warren learns that an unknown individual has a video of her that she’d like to remain private. Both Gary’s and Briana’s lives ultimately intersect with Dante’s in an elaborate scheme the CEO struggles to decipher. Dark Messiah’s reach is immeasurable, as it manages to hurt Dante professionally as well as physically. The onslaught escalates further when individuals kidnap Dante’s 9-year-old daughter, Abigail, and Dark Messiah gives him a harrowing choice in order to save her. Whitlock’s tale, with its contemporary dangers and tech, is frighteningly realistic. For example, cyberthreats include doxxing people—ruining them by posting their private information online. The author steeps his narrative in a foreboding atmosphere; omnipresent dragonfly drones seemingly spy on individuals, and it is clear Dark Messiah closely monitors its victims. Moreover, the prose seethes with menacing descriptions: A security door’s lock pops “like a gunshot,” and an “early morning sun knifed in under the blinds.” Brief scenes and chapters, along with copious twists, produce a swift pace. While necessary exposition in the final act decelerates the narrative, intrigue remains high all the way to the smashing conclusion.
This razor-sharp, tech-laden tale proves both convincing and exhilarating. (dedication, acknowledgements, author bio)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 351
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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