Business-centered SF about managing a drought-choked world that works at a slow boil.
In Greunke’s novel, the global distribution of fresh water on an Earth devastated by climate change relies on two oligarchic families.
In the future, scorching, lethal heat waves bear names like tropical storms, and fresh water has become a valuable, limited commodity (akin to fuel oil) for most of the planet. In a poorly understood meteorological quirk, rainwater now falls in continuous cascades in only two places: Southeast Asia and Africa. In these areas, two once-humble families manage to control a global water-distribution network, dividing the parched population between themselves as clients. The Seng family of Cambodia is led by patriarch Preap, who says, “Water is not a luxury. It is a right. My success is built upon my obligation to bring water to the world as cheaply as possible.” The Sengs are on friendly terms with their peers, the Labonnes of Ivory-Coast Africa. Preap’s fabulously privileged son and heir Kasemchai Seng (who can buy a whole distillery on a whim because he enjoys their liquor) has a casual sexual relationship with Angélique Labonne, daughter of water-tycoon Philippe, who styles himself as a religious leader and broadcasts sermons on God’s role in all of this. Despite his playboy exterior, Kasemchai yearns to do something truly great. When he meets attractive Dutch energy engineer Liv Anselm, they collaborate to replace filthy diesel-oil engines used on water tankers with sustainable solar electricity and rechargeable batteries. Kasemchai encounters unexpected resistance and treachery when he floats the scheme with the aged water barons, who start seeming far less benevolent after this challenge to their established order. First-time author Greunke crossbreeds “cli-fi” SF with the “business novel” genre, in which quests for investors, product rollouts, and the occasional corporate-sabotage crisis provide the drama—such concerns receive more emphasis in Greunke’s yarn than incidents like the harrowing depiction of heatstroke death that raises the curtain here. The reader is occasionally reminded of how high the stakes are, but this is talk-heavy material in which maneuvering in an elite CEO conference propels the climax. Still, the narrative is disquietingly persuasive; read with a cool beverage on hand for best effect.
Business-centered SF about managing a drought-choked world that works at a slow boil.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2025
ISBN: 9798991868211
Page Count: 396
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.
Second of the Walter Nash thrillers—following Nash Falls (2025)—in which the remade hero seeks vengeance.
Due to urgent circumstances, Nash has bulked himself up to become the “muscled and tatted fighting machine” now known as Dillon Hope. His antagonist is Victoria Steers, a global drug dealer who wants him dead. Not realizing his new identity, she enlists Hope to free her mother, Masuyo, from a prison in Myanmar. As an incentive, she shoots one of her associates and threatens to frame Hope for the murder unless he complies. She also wants him to find Nash. He in turn wants to kill Victoria to avenge the death of his innocent daughter, Maggie. “If I go down,” he muses, “I’m taking others with me. Starting with Victoria Steers.” He learns that Victoria had killed all her siblings to eliminate business competition. But as heartless as Victoria is, her mother, Masuyo, is even worse. In league with the Chinese government in a perverse plan to kill as many Americans as possible through fentanyl overdose, she shows contempt for Victoria for her perceived weaknesses. Readers won’t find many happy family relationships here: mother-daughter, father-son, husband-wife—all fraught. Hope’s employer, who accompanies him to Myanmar, is a billionaire chief executive with a dodgy past (i.e., probably killed his father). And there’s a mega-billionaire with an astronomical IQ and ditch-deep morals who, putting it mildly, does not have America’s best interests at heart. As a teenager, he’d defeated two world chess champions; as an adult, he regards his dealings with the world in terms of master chess moves. Only one character seems truly decent and credible—Hiroko, Victoria’s former nanny and lifelong companion, who provides Hope with valuable insights into the Steers’ background, which is partly Chinese. Searing grudges, simple evil, and not-so-simple misunderstandings carry the cast through this complex, action-packed plot. This sequel ties out the loose ends dangling in Nash Falls, which would be helpful to read first. To get to the requisite ending, though, Baldacci takes pains to surprise the reader. It works but often feels forced.
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781538758021
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
Yes, it has its playfully witty moments, but it’s a distinctly minor work in the author’s brainteasing canon.
Murder disrupts the filming of—what else?—The Word Is Murder, based on the first novel starring author Horowitz and his sometime partner, ex-copper Daniel Hawthorne.
With commendably dramatic timing, gofer Izzy Mays bursts into the middle of a pivotal shot on location at The Stade in Hastings to announce that Hawthorne’s been murdered. Of course, what she means (though Horowitz takes his time clarifying this ambiguity) is that David Caine, the rising star playing Hawthorne, has been fatally stabbed in the neck. Suspicion falls on James Aubrey, the agent Caine had just fired; Izzy, because Caine had caused her to be fired, too, though he ended up making his exit first; Ralph Seymour, the washed-up actor who’d returned from New Zealand to play Horowitz opposite Caine, his mortal enemy; and producer Teresa de León, who’s abruptly lost an important source of funding for the project; director Cy Truman; and screenwriter Shanika Harris, because why not? After Hawthorne builds meticulous hypothetical cases against several of these suspects, provoking Teresa’s apt rejoinder, “All those questions in the script and now you’re asking them for real,” he responds to Horowitz’s theory that he may have been the intended target after all by sharing a story from his early days as a private investigator in what ends up looking like the most elaborately extended red herring in the history of detective fiction. The two plots, past and present—or, to be more precise, past and present-day-adaptation-of-a-story-from-the-less-distant-past, are eventually woven together in ways only Horowitz’s most devoted fans will celebrate.
Yes, it has its playfully witty moments, but it’s a distinctly minor work in the author’s brainteasing canon.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9780063305748
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
