Sleuths will delight in piecing together clues and untangling lies alongside the protagonists.
Part murder mystery, part interpersonal drama, a serviceable whodunit (or did anyone?) with a host of compelling characters.
Waverly, New York, seems idyllic—but secrets, half-truths, and distrust run right beneath the surface of this pastoral college town. Ten years ago, art student Emma McCullough disappeared from a party and was never seen again, alive or dead. Her disappearance is widely believed to be the result of suicide; nevertheless, her family, and in particular her sister—medical student Haley—clings to the idea that there was foul play involved. When Emma’s bracelet is discovered in the cliffs behind campus, and later when Haley’s realtor—and Emma’s college bff—Josie Carmichael is attacked at an open house, the thin bandages covering a multitude of lies start to peel away. The narration cycles among the perspectives of Haley, who takes on her trauma with a mix of logic and compulsive rituals; Emma’s former art professor Priya, who deals with her troubled marriage with medication prescribed by her husband; and, most grippingly, the Emma of 10 years earlier, who navigates depression, sex, and uncomfortable relationships. All the while we are sent down paths of red herrings and false evidence as we bounce from one prospective adversary to the next. The plot is often driven by characters making decisions that dip into the less-than-believable (do people really send incriminating emails from accounts with their full names?), and Sise’s attempts at broaching her characters’ interiority can be awkwardly clichéd (“Haven’t you ever been with a bunch of people, and you still feel really lonely?”). But while it may lack the psychological intrigue of others of its genre, this novel has just enough twists to keep its readers along for the ride.
Sleuths will delight in piecing together clues and untangling lies alongside the protagonists.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-9265-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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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