A self-assured thriller that’s centered on intriguing medical and sociological topics.
A scientist’s attempt to cure Alzheimer’s disease makes her a target for international criminals in Scheer’s thriller.
Sarah Brenalen is a pharmacologist who oversees studies at the Memory Research Institute in Portola Valley, California. In her quest to cure Alzheimer’s disease, she’s created a drug called T-3 to test her theory that researchers can “strengthen a brain by attacking it”; her notion is that the brain will defend itself and come back stronger than before. However, her T-3 ends up destroying higher brain functions in mice and rendering them comatose. One day, as she’s jogging on San Gregorio Beach, an “older, well-dressed man” named Marcel pulls a gun on her. He wants her to drop a sample of T-3 in a fast-food restaurant’s bathroom for easy pickup. He also sneaks a tracking device onto her and gives her a phone that allows his group to eavesdrop on her life. He warns her against contact with anyone, even her boyfriend, Rogelio. Marcel later explains that he’s a Parisian working for the French government’s Direction du Renseignement Militaire to eliminate a terrorist group called Jaysh Allah, and he pays her $2 million. However, despite his explanations, Sarah is certain that he can’t be trusted. Scheer’s debut novel offers readers an engaging medical mystery, after which the plot becomes a swiftly paced thriller. The true nature of Marcel’s group remains skillfully hidden until Sarah goes to Paris herself. At that point, the author gives readers a tour of the city’s slightly lesser-known highlights, such as the Musée d’Orsay. Sometimes plot points fit together too seamlessly, such as the fact that Sarah’s interest in music recording helps her in her struggle against Marcel’s surveillance. Later, the story effectively builds a sense of menace without becoming overly explicit. Overall, Sarah is a capable and appealing protagonist, and a canny plot twist gives the narrative geopolitical heft and spurs interest in what might happen next.
A self-assured thriller that’s centered on intriguing medical and sociological topics.Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 279
Publisher: Top Reads Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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