by Erik Storey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 16, 2016
Storey's first novel moves along well enough, but the way he strings together violent action scenes has a paint-by-numbers...
Newly sprung from three years in a Juárez prison, school-of-hard-knocks product Clyde Barr answers an SOS call from his sister Jen, who is being held in the Colorado mountains by a big-time drug supplier.
Victimized by their mother's abusive boyfriends—one of whom left her gruesomely dead—the siblings are still dealing with childhood horrors. Barr has spent years roaming the world's trouble spots as a mercenary and hunter. Jen has a history of drug abuse. Confronting the thugs who work for Alvis, the ruthless dealer, Barr embarks on a spree of beatings and shootings that pretty much matches his dreams: "Every night was a kaleidoscope of killing and violence." He's aided by Allie, a strong-willed bartender with whom he becomes romantically involved, and Zeke, his scary one-time cellmate, who during an “especially bad" year in the slammer, killed a guard and two other men. Storey is a sturdy enough storyteller who keeps the action moving and does a passable job with his rugged setting. But the dialogue is flat: "You stay with me, neither one of us might make it out," Barr tells Allie. To which she responds, "In the long run, Barr, no one ever does." And Barr's mea culpas can invite laughter: "Damn. Another pointless death that was entirely my fault."
Storey's first novel moves along well enough, but the way he strings together violent action scenes has a paint-by-numbers quality.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2414-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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by Karin Slaughter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2015
Slaughter (Cop Town, 2014, etc.) is so uncompromising in following her blood trails to the darkest places imaginable that...
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Twenty-four years after a traumatic disappearance tore a Georgia family apart, Slaughter’s scorching stand-alone picks them up and shreds them all over again.
The Carrolls have never been the same since 19-year-old Julia vanished. After years of fruitlessly pestering the police, her veterinarian father, Sam, killed himself; her librarian mother, Helen, still keeps the girl's bedroom untouched, just in case. Julia’s sisters have been equally scarred. Lydia Delgado has sold herself for drugs countless times, though she’s been clean for years now; Claire Scott has just been paroled after knee-capping her tennis partner for a thoughtless remark. The evening that Claire’s ankle bracelet comes off, her architect husband, Paul, is callously murdered before her eyes and, without a moment's letup, she stumbles on a mountainous cache of snuff porn. Paul’s business partner, Adam Quinn, demands information from Claire and threatens her with dire consequences if she doesn’t deliver. The Dunwoody police prove as ineffectual as ever. FBI agent Fred Nolan is more suavely menacing than helpful. So Lydia and Claire, who’ve grown so far apart that they’re virtual strangers, are unwillingly thrown back on each other for help. Once she’s plunged you into this maelstrom, Slaughter shreds your own nerves along with those of the sisters, not simply by a parade of gruesome revelations—though she supplies them in abundance—but by peeling back layer after layer from beloved family members Claire and Lydia thought they knew. The results are harrowing.
Slaughter (Cop Town, 2014, etc.) is so uncompromising in following her blood trails to the darkest places imaginable that she makes most of her high-wire competition look pallid, formulaic, or just plain fake.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-242905-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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by Sandie Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 21, 2018
Melodramatic yet wildly entertaining, with a smashing twist.
A woman meets her dream guy, but his mother is something out of a nightmare in Jones’ debut thriller.
Emily Havistock is immediately attracted to the handsome Adam Banks when they meet each other’s eyes across the room at a networking event for her London consulting firm, and even though she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, it doesn’t take long before they’re seeing each other every night. Emily’s last relationship ended in disaster, but she feels a true connection to Adam, although he’s not forthcoming about his past. A couple of months into the relationship, he invites her to meet his mother, Pammie, and assures Emily that Pammie will love her. On the way, when Emily makes a light joke about his mom’s taste in music, Adam snaps at her. One would think that Emily might have considered cutting her losses then and there. But, no, Emily is enamored with Adam, so she vows to make it work. What follows is a hellish sequence of passive aggressive nastiness on the part of Pammie that would bring any woman to her knees, begging for mercy. Emily doesn’t feel like she can confide in Adam since he treats his mother like a saint, but she does have the support of her flatmate, Pippa, and best friend Seb. It doesn’t help that Emily feels undeniable sparks with Adam’s younger, very attractive brother, James. Things with Pammie eventually come to a head in a spectacular way, and Emily begins to realize that Adam may not be as perfect as she thought. Emily, who narrates, is relatable even if readers will root for her to put the fiendish, and fiendishly clever, Pammie in her place and smack Adam for not sticking up for her. Jones ratchets up the tension to the breaking point and throws in a curveball that will make readers’ heads spin.
Melodramatic yet wildly entertaining, with a smashing twist.Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-19198-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
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