A rousing crime tale with an indelible cast and a sharp, edgy environment.
In this debut thriller set during a pandemic, a New Jersey contractor finds romance while dodging a lethal mobster henchman.
For his contract work at a bank, Aloysius “Alby” O’Brien anticipates payment under the table. That’s perfectly fine, but since he’d rather not do asbestos removal, he farms the work out to three strangers. One of those hires does something with unexpected consequences—he swipes a signed cashier’s check that a dim bank executive left in the open. The theft itself isn’t surprising; what’s shocking is that the bank’s owners are mobsters. They want this mess cleared up in a week and send meticulous problem-solver Jagger, who’s armed with a fake FBI badge and homicidal intentions. Alby hunts for the thief, too, as the mob’s involvement has already complicated the quiet life he struggles to maintain. Years ago, while working in Baghdad, he was unwittingly entangled in an Islamic State group attack. United States government types spun the story so that Alby was the hero who thwarted the assault. This unquestionably put him on the terrorists’ hit list, forcing him to retreat to America and keep as low a profile as possible. But his present situation isn’t all bad, with charming diner waitress/Zumba instructor Ginger occupying his mind. While she shares with Alby a love of classic Hollywood musicals, Jagger tracks down the contract employees, leaving lingering threats and the occasional body in his wake. It’s not long before he’s eyeing Alby, an intriguing man with an oddly murky history. But now that Alby is dating Ginger, he’s not the only one in potential danger.
O’Neill infuses his series opener with a perpetual sense of unease. Jagger, for example, is a constant menacing presence, and readers know his ferocious search puts him closer and closer to Alby. In the same vein, the mobsters’ deadline ignites the story’s momentum, as each new chapter designates the day and time like a countdown. Even romantic interludes with Alby and Ginger hardly slow the narrative down. Their dialogue scenes pop, and their dates include such winsome bits as Alby’s mostly futile attempts at dancing. The titular pandemic enhances this story—it creates a brooding atmosphere rather than serving as the plot’s driving force. In this case, the near-future world endures Covid-22. Alby protects himself with the most elaborate mask available, while Jagger, who’s getting his hands dirty for the mob, makes sure to sanitize when mingling with the unvaccinated. Despite the romantic couple’s appeal, Jagger is the standout; it’s not his violent acts that prove the most terrifying but rather his painstaking dedication to his grim assignment. His actions often showcase O’Neill’s stark, concise prose: “He saw an empty garage with weeds starting to poke through the black parking lot tar; an abandoned business, two large bay doors with narrow glass windows near the top. Jagger got out and peered through the windows. The place was half-lit from the parking lot, so all he could see was a mess; trash and oil stains were the main inhabitants.” While this book offers a solid wrap-up, the author has two more installments in the works.
A rousing crime tale with an indelible cast and a sharp, edgy environment.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2021
ISBN: 979-8985122404
Page Count: 342
Publisher: AESON Publications
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A feisty storm of Greek tragedy headlined by three very modern women.
On the isle of Capri, Helen Lingate seeks revenge on the people responsible for her mother’s death 30 years earlier—her own family.
When Sarah Lingate fell to her death on Capri in 1992, she left behind a 3-year-old daughter, Helen, and a legacy as a gifted playwright; her favorite necklace of golden snakes was lost to the sea. Thirty years later, Helen, chafing at the restrictions she’s grown up under as a member of the old-money Lingate family, hatches a plan with her uncle Marcus’ assistant, Lorna Moreno, to blackmail her uncle and her father with that same necklace, which mysteriously entered her possession a few months before. The novel begins on Capri just after Lorna disappears, and then traces her steps from 36 hours earlier. Interweaving chapters from the points of view of Helen, Lorna, and Sarah—as well as, later, a few others—we learn how Sarah gradually became stifled by the constant pressure of keeping up appearances until she became inspired to write a play, Saltwater, that was a not-so-thinly veiled tell-all revealing dark Lingate family secrets. It was shortly after this that she fell to her death. The loss of her mother has come to define Helen’s life, and if she can use the necklace as leverage to escape her family, and maybe learn the truth along the way, she’ll take the risk. Lorna’s motives are both murkier and more straightforward—she’s never had money, and she’s got a chip on her shoulder about it, so splitting 10 million euros with Helen sounds like a way to discard her past and start fresh. These strong, conniving women drive the drama and the narrative, and they are captivating enough that as twist after twist begins to unfurl, the novel still feels character-driven. The end—well, the end shocks. And it’s well earned. By the time the sun sets on the gorgeous excess and rugged coast of Capri, lives will have been destroyed.
A feisty storm of Greek tragedy headlined by three very modern women.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593875551
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
An addictive psychological thriller.
When a mysterious novel appears on her bedside table, a successful documentary filmmaker finds herself face to face with a secret that threatens to unravel life as she knows it.
Catherine Ravenscroft has built a dream life, or close to it: the devoted husband, the house in London, the award-winning career as a documentary filmmaker. And though she’s never quite bonded with her 25-year-old son the way she’d hoped, he’s doing fine—there are worse things than being an electronics salesman. But when she stumbles across a sinister novel called The Perfect Stranger—no one’s quite sure how it came into the house—Catherine sees herself in its pages, living out scenes from her past she’d hoped to forget. It’s a threat—but from whom? And why now, 20 years after the fact? Meanwhile, Stephen Brigstocke, a retired teacher, widowed and in pain, is desperate to exact revenge on Catherine and make her pay for what happened all those years ago. The story is told in alternating chapters, Catherine's in the third-person and Stephen's in the first, as the two orbit each other, predator and prey, and the novel moves between the past and the present to paint a portrait of two troubled families with trauma bubbling under the surface. As their lives become increasingly entangled, Stephen’s obsession grows, Catherine’s world crumbles, and it becomes clear that—in true thriller form—everything may not be as it seems. But how much destruction must be wrought before the truth comes out? And when it does, will there be anything left to salvage? While the long buildup to the big reveal begins to drag, Knight’s elegant plot and compelling (if not unexpected) characters keep the heart of the novel beating even when the pacing falters. Atmospheric and twisting and ripe for TV adaptation, this debut novel never strays far from convention, but that doesn’t make it any less of a page-turner.
An addictive psychological thriller.Pub Date: May 19, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236225-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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