A moving coming-of-age novel that blends thrills and heartfelt familial drama.
In Brandes’ thriller, a young woman must come to terms with her father’s violent past and reconcile with her role in it.
Soon after 30-year-old Tilly Stone’s father, Frank, appears on her doorstep, near the Pennsylvania–New Jersey border, the carefully constructed world she’s built for herself starts to crumble. Seventeen years ago, she was his dutiful disciple; they traveled the country, full of determination to wake up the world to the evils of technology and corporate greed. Their targets were dams, and their explosives were designed not to kill, but to ignite righteous fury. She worshipped her father then, and his mission was hers. Then, one fateful summer, Frank brought Tilly back to his childhood home—the cabin where she’d been born—and promised her that they’d stay there. While he worked as a maintenance person in town, she built a small model cabin from wood scraps and found a passion for woodworking; she also made her first real friend in Henry, a gentle boy her own age. But one night, Frank didn’t come home. She survived, as he’d taught her, and as the years passed, she became a talented furniture maker and forged more connections with others, including Henry’s young son, Finn. She also suffered through visits from the FBI and from fans of her well-known father. Meanwhile, she becomes disillusioned about Frank’s mission, and his reappearance forces her to contend with her past. This hard-to-define novel tugs at the heartstrings and shocks the senses in equal measure. Brandes writes in a gentle, descriptive style, filled with the glories of nature and the darkness of a lonely, isolated life. Tilly’s fierce intelligence and perseverance suggest shades of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Readers will feel deeply for her during her long, arduous emotional journey, but Brandes’ skill also makes it possible to feel empathy for Frank and his cause, even if readers deplore his actions. Ultimately, this is a novel about finding a balance between loving someone and recognizing that sometimes love can be misplaced.
A moving coming-of-age novel that blends thrills and heartfelt familial drama.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
The queen of social activist novels has done it again. Impressive, important, and fun to read.
The World Trade Center attacks are at the center of an intricate, twisty family drama spanning decades in both directions.
“You could brace for your sister to die of a terminal illness, only to have your healthy sibling killed in a random car wreck. You could carry a baby safely to term and then, on a bright blue day in September, walk into a building that collapsed beneath your feet.” Or you could be a character in a Jodi Picoult novel and face all of the above and much, much more. Fans of My Sister’s Keeper (2004) will notice a reference to that novel in the preceding quote and be glad to hear a character from that book is back. During the Covid-19 pandemic, former teenage delinquent Jesse Fitzgerald, now a detective on the Providence, Rhode Island, police force, meets Molly Ambrose, a 19-year-old prodigy who runs the state’s emergency preparedness and response program. “Despite the fact that there were fifteen years between us and we both had enough baggage to fill a cargo hold,” as Molly puts it, the two fall madly in love. The baggage she’s referring to includes, on her side, a mother who died on 9/11 when Molly was less than three months old. Picoult supplies her signature delightful banter and gift for depicting passion and romance to win the reader’s sympathy for this possibly questionable match between dedicated public servants, whose favorite game at bedtime is “Who can think of the most terrifying worst-case scenario?” Very little more can be revealed without spoilers, but trigger warnings for this book would be a long list indeed, ranging from suicide and filicide to rape and mental illness (welcome to Picoultland!). Subplots visit evangelical and Navajo cultures as well as the ins and outs of polygraphy. Make sure to read the afterword in which Picoult explains her real-life sources of inspiration.
The queen of social activist novels has done it again. Impressive, important, and fun to read.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9780593726259
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
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