A meticulously detailed, gripping tale that will especially appeal to political thriller fans.
A novel focuses on who really killed President John F. Kennedy and all the fiendish machinations behind the assassination.
This story’s heroes are Andrew St. James, code-named Pegasus, and, to a lesser extent, his protégé, Justin Scott, code name Orion. They are both, thankfully, incorruptible and very good at their secretive jobs. Maj. Gen. Mykel Alexei Zakharov, reckoned the second most powerful man in the KGB, has defected and will only meet with Pegasus. Thus begins O’Connor’s twisted tale. It turns out that the Russian ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin, had warned Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson that Kennedy was in grave danger—not from the Russians, mind you, but from the Chinese. That meeting is filmed though not made public. Then comes the key element of the plot. Through technical legerdemain, the KGB takes that film and other clips of Johnson and Dobrynin to piece together a work that clearly shows the vice president conspiring with the Russians to have Kennedy assassinated. It is a masterpiece of fakery that must never see the light of day. The race is on to expose it as bogus in a way that ordinary people will understand, rendering the blackmail worthless. The Russians have set a deadline for Johnson, now the president, to disavow Israel completely, giving the Soviets carte blanche in the Middle East, or they will release the film to the public. This is not O’Connor’s first foray into political thriller territory. His chops are evident, from the crisp pace—each chapter title suggests urgent bulletins (“Washington, D.C.—May 12-13, 1972”)—to captivating details: “A rumpled figure heaved himself up and lumbered forward, his eyes riveted on St. James.” The author is also a keen historian of geopolitics and takes readers on a compelling tour of the world in the 1960s and ’70s: the Vietnam War, Soviet-Sino tensions, the ousting of Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev, and the rise of Leonid Brezhnev. It’s all here with newsreel urgency. O’Connor is a very dependable dispenser of this addictive material.
A meticulously detailed, gripping tale that will especially appeal to political thriller fans.Pub Date: June 22, 2023
ISBN: 9781737422921
Page Count: 261
Publisher: Pegasus Publishing & Entertainment Group
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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