A playful, briskly paced story about the perils of easy money.
In Burbank’s comedic thriller, a financially strapped architect stumbles upon a windfall with dangerous consequences.
The year is 1999. Rich Lewis is an architect who, due to the highly unfavorable terms of his divorce, is in dire financial straits; Rich can hardly pay his rent, let alone his other bills. Something shocking happens: Rich is out doing some nature photography when two mobsters enter the area and bury a body. Along with the body, they also bury two suitcases full of money—lots of money. After they leave, Rich investigates. He calls the police with an anonymous tip about the body and makes off with almost 30 million dollars. Rich speaks to his attorney, Alan, about the situation; Alan tells him this has bad news written all over it. It turns out the money belongs to a local gangster named Carlo Bartelli. Surely Carlo will want his money back, and surely Carlo is not to be trifled with. But Rich has a plan to free himself of responsibility while also sticking it to his ex-wife’s obnoxious new man, a real estate agent named Tom Cochrane. Burbank spins an intriguing, fast-moving plot with plenty of humor thrown into the mix. For instance, when someone uses the acronym I.C.U. over the phone, the other person, thinking they meant “I see you,” responds with, “Do you see me now?” As silly as such jokes are, they keep the caper lighthearted. Some of the characterizations, on the other hand, are not as successful. Carlo is a mafia stereotype right down to the way he likes to play bocce ball and make “special meatballs.” While a more extreme or nuanced version of a mobster could be played for laughs, Carlo does not come across as particularly funny. Still, the story’s premise makes for a relatable situation—the reader can’t help but think about what they might do in Rich’s shoes and will be compelled to read on to find out what happens.
A playful, briskly paced story about the perils of easy money.Pub Date: July 8, 2024
ISBN: 9798891941830
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Primix Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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