A diverting if largely forgettable trifle.
An unemployed 20-something probes her family’s dark history.
After losing her job and exhausting her savings, Julia Barlow decamps from her Manhattan apartment to her grandmother’s northern Massachusetts estate. Barlow family forefather Archibald Eldridge built Pemberton in 1660, and the Woodhaven Museum wants desperately to buy the property and open it to the public. Though Julia’s dad supports this plan, as he suspects Gram belongs in assisted living, Gram’s sister and roommate, Ethel, swears Gram is fine and opposes the deal. Julia promises to assess both Gram’s safety and handsome museum curator Henry Ziegler’s intentions, but she gets distracted from her mission by the vengeful spirit terrorizing Pemberton. According to Ethel, the ghost is that of Archibald’s first wife, Caroline, who was burned in the town square for witchcraft and then replaced as “Goodwife Eldridge” by her own servant, Barlow ancestor Molly. Before she can even contemplate convincing Gram to sell, Julia feels a duty to help Caroline find rest. And to do that, she must uncover the truth surrounding Caroline’s unjust conviction and execution. Julia’s and Caroline’s storylines unfold in tandem via alternating first-person present-tense chapters. Caroline’s tale is riveting thanks to high stakes and gratifying twists, but Julia’s account disappoints, with anemic plotting and insipid characters. While fear and paranoia suffuse Caroline’s narrative, creating tension and drive, McFadden’s modern-day frame offers little more than Scooby-Doo villains, chemistry-free romance, and lukewarm chills.
A diverting if largely forgettable trifle.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249648
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
Nail-biting and pressure-packed.
Jack Ryan Jr. and company race to stop a killer wave in this Tom Clancy thriller.
The ship Meridian Star departs eastern Russia unknowingly carrying a pair of containers with radioactive cesium chloride. The vessel is hijacked and scuttled in Micronesia near the Mariana Trench, and the crew is murdered. A huge insurance claim results, and Jack, an accomplished deep-sea diver who works for Hendley Associates, is there to investigate. The hostile Chinese learn it’s there and want that illicit cargo. Meanwhile, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center discovers a huge, mysterious object in 600 feet of water. At that depth, the pressure is unsurvivable without complex special equipment, which is vintage Tom Clancy. Whatever the strange object is, it’s “not a ship…not a submarine…not an aircraft.” On the side is a faded hammer and sickle and Cyrillic letters that spell Siren. Ryan teams up with Navy divers, and they look for a way to safely enter and explore the object. They discover that the underwater contraption has thermonuclear warheads attached, left and long forgotten by the USSR. If the warheads explode, they could still achieve their apparent purpose—to trigger a tsunami and destroy Guam, which is strategically important to the U.S. The Chinese know it too, and the race is on to take control. The result is plenty of high-stakes undersea action, where death can come from a bullet, a knife, or a sliced air hose. But there’s action on land, too. Navy master diver Carla Bennett and Jack take on a surprise assault in a hotel where Carla shows off stellar fighting skills—better than Jack’s. These two aren’t the only heroes here, as there’s a well-balanced cast of characters, all brave and likable. And of course—of course—where there’s a bomb, there’s a ticking clock.
Nail-biting and pressure-packed.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9798217183166
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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