This is a winner, packed with governmental misdeeds and threats of violence.
In Luellen’s sizzling legal thriller, some cases just won’t stay solved.
In the author’s debut Someone Had to Die (2022), legal professionals and romantic partners James Butler and Erica Walsh were instrumental in bringing to justice those behind the abduction and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. Eighteen months later, retired DEA Agent Joe Aguilar, who was involved in the case and became James’ friend, calls him to explain, “It was bigger than we thought and now we’re in danger,” right before he is murdered in Yuma, Arizona. James and Erica spend the rest of the book trying to parse Joe’s cryptic last words while attempting to determine why he was killed. Complicating things is a mysterious flash drive that the pair receives implicating the CIA in promoting drug trafficking by select Mexican cartels. The drive also puts a target on CIA agent Tim Speer, another friend who took part in the Camarena case. The couple must figure out who sent the documents and what their motivations are while trying to protect Tim. Going up against CIA spooks proves to be quite a challenge for a pair who are accustomed to being the smartest people in the room. In this complex outing, Luellen raises the bar for James, Erica, and their allies: In the series’ first volume, the Mexican cartels were the opposition; now, the even more shadowy activities of the CIA have been added to the mix. Going up against such a sensitive and violent bunch, James and Erica have to tread carefully. Luellen, himself a lawyer, had worked on cases connected to the actual Camarena case. His research is again front and center, supporting the narrative—the author brings to life a real rogue spy operation of which most readers aren’t aware. The novel’s chief flaw is the fact that it’s obviously a bridge book, leaving the bulk of the storylines unresolved. Still, James and Erica ensure that readers will enjoy the action-packed narrative.
This is a winner, packed with governmental misdeeds and threats of violence.Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781611533705
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Torchflame Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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