A gripping, socially conscious mystery in which timelines collide in a tangle of lies, murder, and conspiracy.
A hidden note, a stash of cash, and a dead father’s secrets launch a photojournalist and her family into a dangerous mystery in Boulden’s novel.
Rose Webster returns to Lake Amelia, New York, to recover from a workplace accident that has left her physically limited and emotionally disoriented. Still reeling from the back-to-back deaths of her father, Randall, who died of an unexpected heart attack, and her mother, Carly, who succumbed to cancer, Rose finds herself caught up in grief and stagnation. She’s also grappling with the revelation that her father had a child named Maxi with another woman—she’s a biracial lesbian in law enforcement who isn’t sure she wants a relationship with her more privileged journalist half-sister. While smudging Randall’s den with sage, Rose uncovers a sealed envelope containing $10,000 and a handwritten note suggesting someone had been in danger—and that her father, an attorney, may have been quietly investigating. Her older brother, Kirk (with whom she shares a warm but slightly distant relationship), and Maxi are largely uninterested at first, but Rose is captivated. With next to no clues, she takes up the mystery as a new kind of assignment, one that will help her to reclaim her sense of purpose. Alternating chapters set in 2010 follow Kelsey Jacobs, a woman working at Randall’s firm who overhears a Spanish-speaking immigrant worker at the Western Inlet Inn whispering about a disturbing incident and expressing fear for her daughter’s life. Kelsey’s efforts to help are met with resistance, and soon she’s being followed, run off the road, and silenced. Rose’s present-day inquiry gradually uncovers Kelsey’s story, deftly linking it to systemic abuse, corruption, and predation. Boulden, an Emmy-winning reporter and IPPY award-winning author, writes with a journalist’s keen eye for details (“A few drops of iced tea fell onto Kelsey’s lap when she raised her glass to her lips, making her question her choice of white linen slacks”). Her prose is grounded, deliberate, and emotionally resonant. Though the pacing is occasionally slow, the story delivers a classic whodunit wrapped in themes of moral courage and buried family dynamics.
A gripping, socially conscious mystery in which timelines collide in a tangle of lies, murder, and conspiracy.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9798986038469
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Don’t feel that your current news feed is disturbing enough? Penny has just what you need.
A sequel to The Grey Wolf (2024) that begins with the earlier novel’s last line: “We have a problem.” And what a problem it is.
Now that Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his allies in and out of the Sûreté du Québec have saved Canada’s water supply from poisoning on a grand scale, you might think they were entitled to some rest and relaxation in Three Pines. No such luck. Don Joseph Moretti, the Sixth Family head who ordered the hit-and-run on biologist Charles Langlois that nearly killed Gamache as well, is plotting still more criminal enterprises, and Gamache can’t be sure that Chief Inspector Evelyn Tardiff, who’s been cozying up to Moretti in order to get the goods on him, hasn’t gone over to the dark side herself. In fact, Gamache’s uncertainty about Evelyn sets the pattern for much of what follows, for another review of one of Langlois’ notebooks reveals a plot so monstrous that it’s impossible to be sure who’s not in on it. Is it really true, as paranoid online rumors have it, that “Canada is about to attack the U.S.”? Or is it really the other way around, as the discovery of War Plan Red would have it? As the threats loom larger and larger, they raise questions as to whether the Black Wolf, the evil power behind them, is Moretti, disgraced former Deputy Prime Minister Marcus Lauzon, whom Gamache has arranged to have released from prison, or someone even more highly placed. A brief introductory note dating Penny’s delivery of the uncannily prophetic manuscript to September 2024 will do little to assuage the anxieties of concerned readers.
Don’t feel that your current news feed is disturbing enough? Penny has just what you need.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328175
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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