Readers will enjoy Isaac Bell as much as he enjoys his work.
The 13th in Cussler’s Isaac Bell Adventures series—now written by Du Brul—harkens back to the tumultuous days of the early 20th century.
In April 1914, lowlife Foster “Foss” Gly escapes from a prison on French Guiana. He plans to help the Germans, who are on the brink of war in Europe. Once fighting begins in August, President Woodrow Wilson publicly tries to maintain American neutrality. But America supplies munitions and other war materiel to the British in ships that German U-boats frequently torpedo. The Brits hire Isaac Bell, a crack investigator employed by the Van Dorn Detective Agency, to find out why the “sea wolves” have so much success in locating high-value targets. It cannot be due to chance alone. The reason is that German spies in New York are using the nascent technology of radio, with lighthouses and balloons often helping make critical connections. Bell is an exceptionally talented and brave fellow who can recall in detail every face he has ever encountered, and he loves a good challenge. In perhaps the book’s best line, “anticipation fizzled in his veins like champagne bubbles.” But he doesn’t anticipate his old nemesis Gly, and their renewed confrontation is just one part of an action-packed yarn. Bell's most dangerous task is to find a German-made vacuum tube critical in transmitting radio signals. Ultimately, he boards the RMS Lusitania, which carries “a great many ammunition crates” for the British. The stakes could not be higher. “If you don't get the vacuum tube,” Bell hears, “the Germans are going on a hunting spree across the length and breadth of the Atlantic, and those men, your brothers, are going to die.” Sadly, the ship is also laden with hundreds of innocent passengers, including women and children. The ill-fated ship sinks to the bottom of the Irish Sea courtesy of a German torpedo, a disaster the author describes in frightening, nail-biting detail. How far will our hero and his compatriot go to reach their prize?
Readers will enjoy Isaac Bell as much as he enjoys his work.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-42198-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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