Another slickly-plotted, adrenaline-fueled installment showcasing a superior police procedural with a twist.
In Seaborne’s novel, an air charter pilot with supernatural powers joins forces with his detective wife to solve a brutal murder and unravel a massive government conspiracy in the process.
Air charter pilot Will Stewart is back for the 12th installment of the author’s Divisible Man series—and this time, he and his detective wife, Andy, must rescue one of their own. Will’s colleague Pidge is in danger when an “amateur internet detective” threatens to expose Pidge’s identity as the mysterious blonde who disrupted a Nazi rally in Lincoln, Nebraska. Company W, a paramilitary insurgency group that specializes in all things racist, is willing to literally kill for that information—and it seems that they have done so when a young woman named Tiffany Vera Callum, mistakenly identified as the Nazi rally disruptor, is found dead, having been burned alive. As rumors swirl about the motivation behind Tiffany’s murder (as well as her sexual orientation, gender identity, and propensity for witchcraft), Will and Andy attempt to hunt down the presumed killers. Along the way, they stumble across clues to a conspiracy so big that it threatens the lives and livelihoods of everyone in America. Now, the race is on to warn the president about the backdoor dealings that may or may not involve some of his closest advisors—but Will and Andy can’t be sure who to trust, or how high up the chain of command the deadly plot really goes. Helping them along the way, as usual, is the use of Will’s extraordinary secret powers—namely, his abilities to fly and turn invisible: “This thing—what I call the other thing—allows me to disappear. It defies gravity. It cures where there is no cure. It saved me. It may kill me.”
With a smooth narrative style and snappy dialogue, Seaborne keeps the plot moving without ever getting bogged down in procedural details. He also manages to show a vulnerability in Will that makes the action-fueled character surprisingly relatable—still traumatized by a past shooting, Will realizes there’s even more at stake now that Andy’s pregnant: “I’ve grown paranoid and prejudiced. Since the brave American patriots of Company W shot my house to pieces, parts of the country I once relished for rural flavor and the wholesome lifestyle I grew up in now feel to me like havens for men whose beliefs had been pretzel twisted until they justified opening fire on the home of a law enforcement officer.” Readers will likely draw some pretty obvious (and depressing) parallels between the book’s conspiracy plot and modern politics, which make this series entry feel all the more relevant. There are sure to be readers who wish that Will was just a normal protagonist without any superpowers—following him invisibly floating around a hotel room to retrieve a bank password can be a bit jarring. It is a testament to Seaborne’s prowess as a writer that Will’s paranormal abilities exist seamlessly (for the most part) right alongside the hyper-realistic, grounded action plot that swirls around him. While the novel functions much more solidly as an action thriller than a superhero story, the two genres coexist comfortably, ultimately coming together to form a tale that’s equal parts heartfelt and intriguing.
Another slickly-plotted, adrenaline-fueled installment showcasing a superior police procedural with a twist.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2024
ISBN: 9781958005606
Page Count: 426
Publisher: Trans World Data
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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