A superb cast spearheads the story of an incendiary social and environmental issue.
This third installment of a legal thriller series finds environmental lawyer Mike Jacobs embroiled in romance, possible murder, and fracking contamination.
Things are definitely brewing in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Yukon Oil and Gas Co. is there, using controversial fracking to drill on private properties. Hefty payments allay the potential concerns of landowners, except for one woman who thinks the fracking has contaminated her family’s water. She takes her allegations to the Department of Environmental Protection, and assistant counsel Mike gets the case. There’s no question the water is chemically tainted; the issue is whether Yukon’s freshwater pit has somehow leaked contaminated fracking water. As citizens actively protest the fracking, Mike works with geologist Missy Shelton. Their unexpected romance sparks a complication with Missy’s ex, who has a hot temper and a gun rack in his pickup. In a concurrent plot, local police search for missing Chris Corsica, a contractor whose company Yukon has outsourced drilling to. But if Corsica has met with foul play, who’s the armed, military-trained man lurking in the woods and eyeing a certain household? All these motley incidents come to a head in a startling confrontation. Burcat, who wrote Amid Rage (2021), rarely takes this legal tale into a courtroom. But the author, as in earlier Mike Jacobs novels, excels at involving his characters in myriad subplots. Even before a deposition, for example, Mike faces off against attorney Darius Moore, his rival since law school, whose firm represents Yukon. The plot is sometimes stagnant, with frequent discussions on the freshwater pit and with the missing person investigation making little progress. Suspense nevertheless abounds courtesy of the tenacious presence of the stranger in the woods and Missy’s volatile ex-boyfriend. While the legal system takes a back seat, Burcat dishes out fracking details that will astonish and educate many readers, such as the part that fresh water plays in the process.
A superb cast spearheads the story of an incendiary social and environmental issue.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-951556-80-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Headline Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.
A single mom winds up fake dating an incredibly wealthy man in her hometown.
Dolly Brick is back in her hometown of Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to help her dad and disabled brother manage their house and family business. As a 39-year-old single mother with multiple jobs—which now include working at the Brick Fish House—Dolly is always busy. When her mom left their family years ago, Dolly took over caring for her siblings and father and never really stopped. When she runs into Stewart Whitfield after making a shrimp delivery to his family’s mansion, she doesn’t think they could be more different. She’s had to figure out how to do everything by herself, and he can’t even change a tire. That’s why Stewart’s proposal that she pretend to be his girlfriend feels so unbelievable—but it comes with a hefty check that she desperately needs for home repairs. So she becomes the fake girlfriend of Stewart Whitfield (as in, the Whitfields her town is named after; his real fiancée just dumped him and it’s a bad time for him to be single) and experiences what it’s like to walk into fancy buildings through the front door instead of the service entrance. More than the boats and helicopter and expensive dinners, though, Dolly is impressed by what a kind man Stewart is—and how it feels to let someone else take care of her for a change. Soon, their relationship starts to feel more real than fake. Monaghan creates an impossibly winning story with a charming, lovable heroine. Dolly is capable, hardworking, and will do anything for the people she loves. She and Stewart both possess real flaws, and while their relationship begins with one of the most beloved rom-com tropes, their challenges feel like realistic adult obstacles rather than easily solved miscommunications. It’s also refreshing that, even though Dolly must learn to allow other people to help her, she never views her caretaking responsibilities as burdens. She deeply loves her family, and that love carries through the entire story.
A charming love story that absolutely radiates warmth.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9780593853979
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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