A delightful page-turner that defies the typical bleakness of apocalyptic fiction.
In Winters’ speculative novel, a catastrophic event brings three unlikely heroes together.
Living alone in the Tennessee woods in a cabin he built himself, Bobfeels like has everything he needs. However, his sense of peace is shattered one morning when a low-flying plane falls from the sky, crashing nearby. As Bob sets off to find out what happened, he encounters his conspiracy theorist neighbor, Fred, also known as “In-Fra-red.” Fred, a doomsday prepper, believes that an electromagnetic pulse attack occurred and that “New World 101” has finally arrived. He convinces Bob to ride shotgun on a trip to Nashville to stock up on fuel. However, Fred and Bob’s trip in the new world turns out to be more than they bargained for. In a parallel storyline, 16-year-old Jupiter is staying at her Aunt Cara’s while her father’s away. Aunt Cara and Jupiter were about to head to the airport to pick him up when they discovered that nothing worked: not the TV, not the radio, or even the faucet. Aunt Cara gathers up her two cats, Twiner and Lily, and the drive to the airport in her 1968 Volkswagen van confirms her fears that something’s very wrong, indeed. Abandoned cars litter the streets and people walk around aimlessly. Soon, Aunt Cara and Jupiter find themselves in a fight for their lives. Following a tragedy, the two storylines connect, and the characters band together when one decides to embark on a mission to locate a loved one. Over the course of this novel, Winters steeps his disaster narrative in wry humor and wit, creating a rare genre entry that mixes lightheartedness with the conventionally darker elements of after-the-end fiction. The sharp dialogue (“It’ll be good against bad from now on, same as it ever was. Only now it’s on steroids, from here on out”), likable characters, and tone of normalcy could also have an unexpected effect: It may make it easier for readers to consider what they might do in such chaos.
A delightful page-turner that defies the typical bleakness of apocalyptic fiction.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
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
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