Billed as a thriller but more satisfying as historical fiction; the rich story behind van Gogh’s success earns the spotlight.
A dual storyline connected by van Gogh’s legacy, the woman who first championed his art, and the women now fighting to protect it.
Before Vincent van Gogh was a household name, he died having sold barely any of his work: This is a familiar tale, and yet the name “Jo van Gogh” is rarely part of it. In 1996 Paris, Stella Swanson, an elderly woman married into a family of art dealers, reveals her connection to Jo in confidence to her housekeeper, Emma, an American art student struggling to make ends meet. Stella’s grandmother Claire was the longtime companion to Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law, Jo. Through Claire’s storyline in the 1890s, we learn that after her husband Theo’s death, Jo took it upon herself to continue his work of introducing Vincent’s art to the world—and Claire was vital to Jo’s success. Back in 1996, as Emma spends more time with Stella, she begins to share Stella’s sentiment that she was wronged by the Swanson family after her husband died. After devoting her life to the Swanson legacy, she’s been completely shut out, the precious art lining her salon walls now returned to the company collection. Stella introduces Emma to her step-grandson, Matthew, who works at the helm of the Swanson empire along with his sister, Caroline. Unlike Caroline, Matthew is sympathetic toward Stella and reveals some less-than-favorable information about Swanson’s business practices. Emma finds herself neck-deep in a plot with her roommates, emboldened to help Stella and unravel a massive art fraud in the process. “Every artist or art lover has thought at some point about how they would steal a painting from a famous museum,” she thinks. Well, if that’s true, it might explain why the plot to break in to the Musée d’Orsay is overly simple (Ocean’s 8 this is not). The modern storyline is fast-paced and cinematic, sacrificing character development for action. It’s easiest to root for Claire, whose perspective brings Jo van Gogh and her contributions to life in full color.
Billed as a thriller but more satisfying as historical fiction; the rich story behind van Gogh’s success earns the spotlight.Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9798217046492
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Nail-biting and pressure-packed.
Jack Ryan Jr. and company race to stop a killer wave in this Tom Clancy thriller.
The ship Meridian Star departs eastern Russia unknowingly carrying a pair of containers with radioactive cesium chloride. The vessel is hijacked and scuttled in Micronesia near the Mariana Trench, and the crew is murdered. A huge insurance claim results, and Jack, an accomplished deep-sea diver who works for Hendley Associates, is there to investigate. The hostile Chinese learn it’s there and want that illicit cargo. Meanwhile, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center discovers a huge, mysterious object in 600 feet of water. At that depth, the pressure is unsurvivable without complex special equipment, which is vintage Tom Clancy. Whatever the strange object is, it’s “not a ship…not a submarine…not an aircraft.” On the side is a faded hammer and sickle and Cyrillic letters that spell Siren. Ryan teams up with Navy divers, and they look for a way to safely enter and explore the object. They discover that the underwater contraption has thermonuclear warheads attached, left and long forgotten by the USSR. If the warheads explode, they could still achieve their apparent purpose—to trigger a tsunami and destroy Guam, which is strategically important to the U.S. The Chinese know it too, and the race is on to take control. The result is plenty of high-stakes undersea action, where death can come from a bullet, a knife, or a sliced air hose. But there’s action on land, too. Navy master diver Carla Bennett and Jack take on a surprise assault in a hotel where Carla shows off stellar fighting skills—better than Jack’s. These two aren’t the only heroes here, as there’s a well-balanced cast of characters, all brave and likable. And of course—of course—where there’s a bomb, there’s a ticking clock.
Nail-biting and pressure-packed.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9798217183166
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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