Timely and tense; a worthy addition to a thriller series.
An undercover federal agent investigates a police officer’s brutal hit-and-run death: Could it have been a planned attack by a member of the force?
In this fifth installment of Barrows’ thriller series, agent David Ward of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on a Colorado ski trip with his significant other, Rowan Parks. But then his boss asks him to slip into a Florida police force that might have one or more extremely bad apples. One of them could have been driving the pick-up truck that mowed down Deputy Jackson Garrett as he stood issuing a speeding ticket on a rural Panhandle road. Tallahassee Sheriff Eli Coe “thinks his office has been infiltrated by the Oath Keepers and the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.” One or more officers engaged in such a group might have had it in for Garrett. Ward’s undercover name is Samuel Audie Hill. As he’s brought in as part of the SWAT unit, he alters his appearance to “a more SWAT-like look,” which includes a buzz cut and a shaved-off beard. (When he texts a photograph of his new style to Rowan, she responds, “I love you, anyway?”)Ward learns quickly that some of his fellow officers have strong feelings against Florida Gov. Thomas Fuller because he favors “reasonable restrictions on assault weapons,” promoted mask-wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic, and “stole” the primary election from fellow candidate and “true conservative” state Sen. Bryce Collins. Mirroring the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a coup may be in the offing. The timeliness of the story is a plus, though readers’ appreciation may vary according to their political views. The pacing is brisk; the writing is crisp (“The handshake was not a contest, but a greeting”) and the details are often amusing: “Ward was struck by the shark mounted above the bed.” Ward is a most likable protagonist and the other characters are realistic, but there are so many lieutenants, deputies, and detectives that readers may need a scorecard.
Timely and tense; a worthy addition to a thriller series.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 227
Publisher: Down & Out Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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