A suspense tale with an engrossing plot and fun characters.
In Brote’s thriller set in 1978, a pair of newlyweds move into a home that has more secrets than they bargained for.
As the story opens, Sharon Walsh is driving to Nettlestone, New Hampshire, to move into her new home with her husband, Kip, a local morning radio DJ. When Sharon arrives at the house, she learns that it’s next door to an abandoned Cloud 9 Family Fun Park. As Sharon gets accustomed to Nettlestone, she finds some secret compartments in her home as well as a cache of provocative photos and a diary; she also discovers the house’s previous residents were a woman named Astrid and her husband, Hank Russo, who allegedly strangled her a year ago but was never charged.In addition, she finds out that her icy neighbor, Dolores, used to live there. Despite being plagued by nightmares, Sharon investigates the mysteries surrounding Astrid’s murder, which seem connected to a secret swingers’ club. Later, she meets Astrid’s twin sister, Agnes; together, the two women decode the murder victim’s collection of postcards and uncover a hidden tunnel that leads directly from the house to Cloud 9. After someone else turns up dead, Sharon races to solve the mystery with new urgency. Brote’s tale is a riveting whodunit that has the added bonus of being a period piece, complete with a music playlist. The plot offers thrilling (and sometimes delightfully blue) twists and turns, and Brote manages to give her setting additional texture with 1970s references that feels as comfortable as a faded Eagles T-shirt. This provides a wonderful contrast to the skillfully described, creepy amusement park, which features a labyrinthine house of mirrors. Still, Brote effectively takes a beat every now and again to focus on Sharon and Kip’s relationship, allowing readers to become more invested in the characters. Similarly, the prose can be striking, as in the prologue: “I was able to inhale one shaky last breath, the intoxicating fragrance of rose and jasmine on my skin mingling with the stink of stale cigarette smoke and the marshy pond outside.”
A suspense tale with an engrossing plot and fun characters.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9798987693315
Page Count: 307
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest.
A widowed and disgraced plastic surgeon is drawn into a Russian oligarch’s evil schemes.
Witherspoon’s adult fiction debut, co-authored with thrillermeister Coben, opens as heart surgery performed by Dr. Marc Adams in a North African refugee camp is interrupted by the explosive invasion of armed militants. It's the last we will see of Marc in this dimension. The next chapter jumps ahead one year to a ceremony at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where his widow, Maggie McCabe, is supposed to be presenting an award in honor of her mother. Miserable and anxious about appearing in public after having lost her medical license, she consults with her late husband on her phone—not via supernatural means, but using a "griefbot," an amazingly lifelike and functional AI app created by her genius sister, Sharon. Once the griefbot coaxes her to brave the sneering masses, she learns she’s been replaced on the podium anyway. But she runs into a former professor, a celebrity plastic surgeon, who requests a meeting with her at his office in New York and won’t take no for an answer. Next thing she knows, there’s $10 million in her bank account and she’s on a private plane heading to a palace outside Moscow where she’s been engaged to perform off-the-record surgery on billionaire Oleg Ragoravich (new face) and his girlfriend, Nadia (new boobs). And…we’re off. A whirl of surgeries, chases, and escapes ensues as Maggie gradually comes to understand who these people are and what they have in mind for her, and how it connects to Marc and their missing friend and business partner, Trace Packer. She is aided by her delightful father-in-law, Porkchop, owner of a biker bar in New York City and a very handy guy to have on your team if you've run afoul of an international criminal organization. From the palace in Rublevka the action moves to Dubai and then Bordeaux, climaxing in a high-stakes illegal heart transplant. But wait—is Marc really dead? What happened to Trace? Who is Nadia really? Though these smoldering questions don’t quite catch fire, it's a good first try for Witherspoon.
Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781538774700
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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