An energetic potboiler features a sadistic serial killer and a determined team of seasoned detectives.
In this thriller’s prologue, a character named Psycho, aka Justin Graham, riding around with a bound and gagged police detective in his back seat, unceremoniously runs over a pedestrian while making declarations about rules and the unknowable dangers of obedience. From this point on, Canadian sci-fi author Griffin (Darkness and the Radiance of Neamh, 2014, etc.) keeps the adrenaline churning as a cadre of cops attempts to outwit a brutal, clever killer. After Detective Greg Kellogg’s murder at the hands of Psycho, Reginald, a thrill-seeking investigative officer, is quickly swept into solving a recent rash of lucrative heists plaguing Manhattan’s elderly elite. Elsewhere, Detective Solomon Roud has been placed on leave for erratic behavior, emotional instability, and a string of bad luck since his former partner Greg’s murder. Desperate to “wipe that slate clean,” Sol continues covertly working undercover jobs for the thievery ring, hoping to eventually bust it from the inside. The band’s next job is a huge estate heist, and Sol needs several backup men to assist in a sting operation. Reg and ex–Navy man Sham are recruited as key operatives, and all three get to work on apprehending the thieves. Meanwhile, in a case that firmly anchors the novel, Psycho, whose serial killing evolution is filled in through grisly flashbacks, continues his vicious torture/murdering spree, complete with cryptic notes jammed down the victims’ throats. But when a local pathologist discovers a clue pointing to Sol, he enlists the detective’s help in solving the crime as well. The killer slithers closer to Sol and blackmails him in a Saw-like game involving a nail-biting, time-hinged trade-off of a kidnapped girl for a score-settling murder. Fresh leads, a spirited game of cat and mouse, a surprise revelation, and some intuitive, sleuthing spadework keep Griffin’s impressive suspense yarn zipping along. All of his characters, whether benevolent or motivated by deadly intent, are equipped with wisecracking personalities and the ability to grab a reader’s attention throughout the length of an action-packed novel that barely pauses to catch its breath. The dramatic conclusion doesn’t disappoint and satisfyingly leaves the detectives’ doors wide open for future adventures. With the ferocity and black humor of a Quentin Tarantino film, this in-your-face chiller delivers lethal villains; flawed, dogged investigators; and a bevy of twists and turns.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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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