Dark, sublimely flawed characters populate this brisk, suspenseful tale.
A man’s harassment of a woman he victimized 16 years earlier ultimately spins into chaos and involves myriad individuals in this thriller.
Cindy Foster and Adan Jackson work in different departments in the Washington, D.C., office of America First Financial Services. But somehow he keeps running into Cindy, making her so uncomfortable she seeks help from private investigator Nickey Arnold. Though her client doesn’t tell her everything, Nickey learns Adan was one of three men who gang-raped Cindy in 1993. Only one assailant, Troy Mondale, served time, and he was released several years ago, in 2005. When Nickey’s investigation into Adan culminates in her warning him to stay away from Cindy, he wants revenge. He steps up his harassment by anonymously mailing Cindy videos from a pornographic past she buried. Only this time, Adan tries framing Troy—the first person Cindy suspects. Troy is now a consultant to prison-bound criminals and has a lawyer girlfriend, Marie Moretti, who’s aware of his history. Though he insists he wants nothing to do with Cindy’s troubles, Troy contemplates his own retribution against Adan. An incensed Adan, meanwhile, befriends a dangerous ex-convict and, before long, plots a murder or two. Clark steadily and effectively builds suspense in this tale, which becomes increasingly frenzied as more people get involved. Meticulously detailed backstories spawn intricate characters. Cindy is unquestionably a victim but may be withholding information from Nickey; further specifics on the ’93 rape lead to some sympathy for Troy. While the narrative boasts copious players, they are sometimes hard to keep straight due to their similar names—for example, Jack, Jake, Jackson, and Jacob—as well as a few who regularly use aliases. Nevertheless, the author manages an unwavering momentum with scenes that are predominantly dialogue. Some significant plot turns, namely a couple of deaths, come by way of conversations.
Dark, sublimely flawed characters populate this brisk, suspenseful tale. (acknowledgements)Pub Date: April 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73329-440-9
Page Count: 410
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A feisty storm of Greek tragedy headlined by three very modern women.
On the isle of Capri, Helen Lingate seeks revenge on the people responsible for her mother’s death 30 years earlier—her own family.
When Sarah Lingate fell to her death on Capri in 1992, she left behind a 3-year-old daughter, Helen, and a legacy as a gifted playwright; her favorite necklace of golden snakes was lost to the sea. Thirty years later, Helen, chafing at the restrictions she’s grown up under as a member of the old-money Lingate family, hatches a plan with her uncle Marcus’ assistant, Lorna Moreno, to blackmail her uncle and her father with that same necklace, which mysteriously entered her possession a few months before. The novel begins on Capri just after Lorna disappears, and then traces her steps from 36 hours earlier. Interweaving chapters from the points of view of Helen, Lorna, and Sarah—as well as, later, a few others—we learn how Sarah gradually became stifled by the constant pressure of keeping up appearances until she became inspired to write a play, Saltwater, that was a not-so-thinly veiled tell-all revealing dark Lingate family secrets. It was shortly after this that she fell to her death. The loss of her mother has come to define Helen’s life, and if she can use the necklace as leverage to escape her family, and maybe learn the truth along the way, she’ll take the risk. Lorna’s motives are both murkier and more straightforward—she’s never had money, and she’s got a chip on her shoulder about it, so splitting 10 million euros with Helen sounds like a way to discard her past and start fresh. These strong, conniving women drive the drama and the narrative, and they are captivating enough that as twist after twist begins to unfurl, the novel still feels character-driven. The end—well, the end shocks. And it’s well earned. By the time the sun sets on the gorgeous excess and rugged coast of Capri, lives will have been destroyed.
A feisty storm of Greek tragedy headlined by three very modern women.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593875551
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
