A gritty, hopeful narrative with emotionally rich characters.
In Caldwell’s dystopian thriller, a conscripted worker with a gift for “binding”—feeling the emotions of those around her—attempts to escape her authoritarian society.
In the Atlantic States of America, the people are governed via a corporate-run caste system, with a handful of companies profiting from their labor. Conscripted workers are clad in pale blue and microchipped, and Shepherd officers police them with cruelty and electric “zap-crooks.” When 23-year-old Ruby Roth’s boss Colin Tate’s betrayal leads her into a dangerous situation involving a disturbed Shepherd and a housing eviction, Ruby’s connections in the monastic Elohi Order help her and her neighbors, Harold Sr. and his son, Little Harold, escape the oppressive regime. The Elohi Order helps by “serving others in order to ease or prevent suffering,” and they have extensive connections to aid migrants at the Atlantic States’ border with the United West. In that country, Kaileh Clearwater Lewis searches for answers regarding her brother’s death while defending her egalitarian community as a Warrior. Ruby and Kaileh’s twisting journeys merge after a groundbreaking revelation transcends artificial barriers. This fast-paced, tense story expands on a traditional border-crossing narrative by presenting two women traveling toward each other, unaware of their connection. The third-person perspective alternates between these two well-drawn characters, and readers will especially root for Ruby’s success. Her binding ability evokes additional empathy for her character, as it results in painful encounters: “agony shoots into her, radiates from her belly like an exploding star.” The grim landscape of the Atlantic States of America is engagingly visual, with one corporation controlling farms and housing, and the fact that societal strata are identifiable by color is reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s classic The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). And despite the darkness, a throughline of hope runs through this ultimately inspiring story of perseverance and resistance.
A gritty, hopeful narrative with emotionally rich characters.Pub Date: June 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780986190711
Page Count: 412
Publisher: GC
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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