An intricate legal thriller revolving around the nature of the self.
In Stuart’s legal novel, a case of mistaken identity takes on a dark new meaning.
Martin Cheshire is being tried for the murder of his twin brother, Arthur. Before the trial can happen, however, the state must make sure that Martin Cheshire is Martin Cheshire—and not Arthur Cheshire, as he claims. “Perhaps the only thing the government and the defense agree on is that none of us are confident about who Mr. Cheshire is,” the prosecutor admits. “Is he Arthur, as he now claims to be, or is he Martin, as he originally admitted he was?” Complicating things further is the long history of the brothers impersonating one another—and the possibility that the man in custody, whatever his name is, may not be fully sane. It falls, in large part, to Dr. Lisbeth Socorro of Psychiatric Evaluation Services to solve this puzzle via thrice-weekly sessions conducted at a San Diego detention facility. She patiently works to draw the story out of Martin (or is it Arthur?), a story of a rough childhood living with foster parents in Portland, Maine. His story is also one of deception, embezzlement, arson, and the strange game the twins liked to play called “Hide and Be.” Stuart succeeds in capturing the distinct personalities of his characters, from the blustery judge overseeing the case to the believably psychotic twins. Here Arthur describes his experience of posing as Martin and sleeping with Martin’s girlfriend: “Once we got into it, I let her lead, like Martin said she liked. That was odd though. She was passive about a lot of things, or so he had said. But in bed, she liked to be in charge. That took all the thinking out of it for me. This was just what I wanted…” The author’s career as a trial lawyer comes through in the minutiae of the courtroom scenes, and in the attention to detail throughout. Readers will enjoy piecing together this strange mystery, which avoids the obvious twists in favor of stranger ones.
An intricate legal thriller revolving around the nature of the self.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781736894668
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Gl Stuart Enterprises
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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