A solid thriller and a promising series debut.
In Edwards’ series starter, a gutsy emergency room physician is drawn into the dangerous hunt for a vicious serial killer.
Speeding to work just before sunrise, young trauma doctor Riley Brighton happens upon the body of an apparent hit-and-run victim in the middle of Los Angeles’s 101 freeway. A huge, menacing man with a black pickup abruptly warns her away from the scene; knowing first responders are on the way, Riley heads to LA City General, the hospital and medical school where she works in the ER. Her day only gets worse: The department head blindsides her with an interrogation about the recent death of a 6-year-old patient, a loss that shook Riley deeply (“Nothing had been the same since that night”), in a blatant attempt to scapegoat her for a colleague’s incompetence. The details of the hit-and-run suggest it wasn’t an ordinary accident—worse, there seems to be a connection to another recent fatality on the same stretch of freeway. That evening, when the police show up at Riley’s home with questions, she surmises that the victims were transgender. Riley’s sense of justice is outraged by the hate crimes, and she may be in danger as a known witness. She contacts “Avenging Allies,” a mysterious group that’s investigating the first highway murder, and gets caught up (against her better judgment) in the dangerous search for a savage monster as the body count rises. The novel’s plot, with its constant new developments, is a complicated web with many threads that take time to connect. (They add up to page-turning intrigue, but there are no surprise twists and little suspense.) Riley is an engaging hero, kind to her patients and colleagues, and courageous whether confronting obnoxious colleagues or putting herself in risky situations. The key supporting characters—including heart-of-gold Holly, a new friend of Riley’s, and Joe, the chief pathologist whose crush on Riley is an open secret—are also well drawn, though less well rounded. The narrative moves briskly, and although the office politics subplot has no direct relationship to the main mystery, it doesn’t slow things down and effectively demonstrates Riley’s character. The story includes gruesome medical details and mentions of child abuse, though almost all of the violence happens off-page.
A solid thriller and a promising series debut.Pub Date: May 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781647049683
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sugar Pine Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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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