A riveting but grim and unflinching tale of two assassins.
In this debut thriller, the head of a newly formed organized crime unit searches for killers after a mob-related act of vengeance ignites a series of murders.
Denny Pogue, a New York college professor driving to work, fatally hits a boy on a bicycle. But as the boy was the son of Jimmy Morretti, who runs a criminal empire, authorities suspect the worst when Pogue later turns up missing. Meanwhile, Ben Hawkins, a contractor who once tracked down fugitives for the FBI, becomes the head of the Organized Crime Task Force. Before Hawkins can delve into Morretti’s crimes, which soon include Pogue’s homicide, someone starts taking out members of the mobster’s crew. Unexpectedly, another string of murders may have ties to these homicides, as some of the victims are associated with “assassin bureaus.” The OCTF’s theory is that a second culprit is hunting the contract killer targeting Morretti’s men. So there’s a chance Pogue’s relatives are in danger, as Morretti may conclude they hired the first assassin. While Hawkins and his team hunt both killers, the second one is “particularly savage,” and innocents sadly die in all the chaos. And if the assassins realize the OCTF is on to them, they may go underground. Lavi certainly doesn’t pull any punches in his hard-hitting tale. The murders are plentiful and especially coldblooded when involving family members and witnesses. Furthering the somber tone are perspectives from both killers, who, as professionals, are frighteningly methodical. Nevertheless, Hawkins, despite ongoing troubles such as a taste for alcohol, is sympathetic: He has endearing conversations with his wife, Vanessa, and, as a Black man, is no stranger to racism. The story moves at a steady clip thanks to shifting locales in various United States cities and brutal, concise confrontations that occasionally spin off into gunfights or close combat.
A riveting but grim and unflinching tale of two assassins.Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4991-9103-5
Page Count: 338
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
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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