A gripping, timely, and twisty thriller.
In Seaborne’s sixth series adventure, a pilot who can turn invisible and fly tackles a tangle of crimes, including serial killing and extortion.
It’s been a jam-packed year for Essex County Airport charter pilot Will Stewart since the midair collision that should have killed him. The crash left him with an amazing ability: he can float invisibly, no longer “subject to the laws of inertia and mass and gravity.” He’s called on this power, which he calls “the other thing,” to uncover truths and right wrongs committed by otherwise untouchable malefactors. While he’s invisible, Will can make other people float, too, which has allowed him to perform amazing rescues. Although he’s tried to keep his gift a secret, a small group, including his police detective wife, Andy, is in the know, and they’re concerned that online-retail billionaire Spiro Lewko has gotten his hands on the only surviving piece of debris from the mysterious object that collided with Will. Lewko intends to study the object at his highly secure, state-of-the-art research facility. Meanwhile, a vicious serial killer is murdering isolated farm families and threatens to keep doing so unless he receives $100 million from the Stewarts’ wealthy friend Sandy Stone. To raise the money, Stone must sell a valuable lakeside property that a National Football League star is currently renting. The athlete was recently arrested for providing alcohol to minors, so he’s broken the lease—a convenient situation for arrogant real estate developer Emilio DeSantorini, who wants to buy the property. Once again, Will must employ his special talents, join with allies, and investigate interrelated cases to ensure that justice is done.
Seaborne shows himself to be a reliably splendid storyteller in this latest outing. The plot is intricate and could have been confusing in lesser hands, but the author manages it well, keeping readers oriented amid unexpected developments. He captures a particular cultural zeitgeist by using bitcoin and the dark web as story elements, and he offers original characters that call to mind real-life figures, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Donald Trump. His crisp writing about complex scenes and concepts is another strong suit, as when he describes Lewko’s laboratory, “a set director’s dream for a science fiction picture” where “sequential lights glowed in the floor, throbbing like weird luminescent water flowers sunk in an acrylic pond.” The fantasy of self-powered flight remains absolutely compelling, each installment bringing new revelations regarding its possibilities and origins. As a former charter pilot, Seaborne conveys Will’s delight not only in “the other thing,” but also in airplanes and the world of flight—an engaging subculture that he ably brings to life for the reader. Will is heroic and daring, as one would expect, but he’s also funny, compassionate, and affectionate. While embracing a troubled woman, for example, he reflects on his own feelings: “It wasn’t attraction, but it was love….The kind that hides beneath the skin of humanity and peeks out when tragedy reminds us that everyone around us reflects the face we see in the mirror.”
A gripping, timely, and twisty thriller.Pub Date: May 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73368-345-6
Page Count: 414
Publisher: Trans World Data
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest.
A widowed and disgraced plastic surgeon is drawn into a Russian oligarch’s evil schemes.
Witherspoon’s adult fiction debut, co-authored with thrillermeister Coben, opens as heart surgery performed by Dr. Marc Adams in a North African refugee camp is interrupted by the explosive invasion of armed militants. It's the last we will see of Marc in this dimension. The next chapter jumps ahead one year to a ceremony at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where his widow, Maggie McCabe, is supposed to be presenting an award in honor of her mother. Miserable and anxious about appearing in public after having lost her medical license, she consults with her late husband on her phone—not via supernatural means, but using a "griefbot," an amazingly lifelike and functional AI app created by her genius sister, Sharon. Once the griefbot coaxes her to brave the sneering masses, she learns she’s been replaced on the podium anyway. But she runs into a former professor, a celebrity plastic surgeon, who requests a meeting with her at his office in New York and won’t take no for an answer. Next thing she knows, there’s $10 million in her bank account and she’s on a private plane heading to a palace outside Moscow where she’s been engaged to perform off-the-record surgery on billionaire Oleg Ragoravich (new face) and his girlfriend, Nadia (new boobs). And…we’re off. A whirl of surgeries, chases, and escapes ensues as Maggie gradually comes to understand who these people are and what they have in mind for her, and how it connects to Marc and their missing friend and business partner, Trace Packer. She is aided by her delightful father-in-law, Porkchop, owner of a biker bar in New York City and a very handy guy to have on your team if you've run afoul of an international criminal organization. From the palace in Rublevka the action moves to Dubai and then Bordeaux, climaxing in a high-stakes illegal heart transplant. But wait—is Marc really dead? What happened to Trace? Who is Nadia really? Though these smoldering questions don’t quite catch fire, it's a good first try for Witherspoon.
Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781538774700
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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