The ingredients for a suspenseful novel minus the payoff.
Three story strands, four women, and their thoughts on doppelgängers.
When, upon leaving a cafe, Naomi realizes she has taken the wrong coat—it resembles her own—she returns it to the woman it belongs to. At the cafe on another occasion, Naomi again spots this woman, Laura, who becomes the object of Naomi’s fascination (and eventually her lover). The novel swaps third-person narration for first-person narration by an unnamed woman whose job is to transcribe recordings of women’s personal stories for a ghostwriter. “I am transformed into every woman as I type,” the narrator reflects. “We are, in the moment I listen and type, the same person.” Soon the novel switches to what seems to be a transcript of a woman’s personal story; “I’m so lonely!” it begins. The novel interweaves the three narratives, inviting the reader to wonder how they’re connected. Alas, while the book is written with marvelously cool composure, none of the three strands is especially interesting: The reader is unlikely to share Naomi’s obsession with Laura, whose ethereality seems performative. Nothing much is going on in the transcriber’s life; the transcript snippets don’t go anywhere. And the women’s musings on having or being a double ultimately leave the impression of intellectual noodling. Some readers may find the book seductively mysterious: Johansson, the Swedish author of the novel Antiquity (2024), has set her scenes in an anonymous city in an unspecified past of landlines and cassette tapes. And some readers may be intrigued by the novel’s references to unnamed suspense films presumably invented by the author (although Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Marnie will come to mind). The transcriber’s summaries of the movie plots are compelling; if only this novel were equally so.
The ingredients for a suspenseful novel minus the payoff.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781646223138
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Catapult
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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