Despite a few flaws, this tale’s inventive worldbuilding and appreciation for bloody thrills shine.
Evil emerges in a small coal town in this horror novel.
Something is attacking people in Blackrock, Pennsylvania. And it seems that the town’s miners are the first to encounter the phenomenon. When Hye Song disappears after cleaning himself up and getting a job in coal, his sister, Moon, hires private eye Ben Sawyer to investigate. What they find in Blackrock is a bit stranger than Ben’s usual cases. The whole town seems to be acting oddly. Professor Saladin Zewail, who teaches at a Penn State satellite in the area, is the first to notice something awry when a former student who was recently killed in a hit-and-run accident comes back to visit him. The dead are returning, and the event is connected to what happened in the mine. Ben, Moon, and Saladin eventually learn there is a supernatural explanation, a portal to a parallel universe from which doppelgängers of Blackrock’s population are trying to escape and replace their counterparts in this world. Still, this realm isn’t going to give up without a fight, and it’s up to Ben, Moon, and Saladin to close the portal and save the town. Brosky’s thriller is a bit slow to develop, especially concerning some of the secondary characters from the other world. And a subplot focusing on Ben’s family history of dementia feels tacked on. This story doesn’t need it: There is too much creepy fun to be had in the worlds the author has created. He shows he knows how to grab readers’ attention in the gory prologue, piling up bodies in the subterranean world of the shafts, where the darkness is so unrelenting that “the color black has a weight to it.” The tale is sometimes sluggish after that until the pieces come together in the third act. There is the clue of Saladin’s former student, but a more robust explanation of the details comes late, which doesn’t so much create suspense as confusion earlier on. Still, there is plenty here for horror fans to chew on, including the many ghastly delights of Smithwick’s mortuary, the best of which involve severed body parts attacking the undertaker. Overall, readers will find much to enjoy in this imperfect but original and entertaining story.
Despite a few flaws, this tale’s inventive worldbuilding and appreciation for bloody thrills shine.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73658-674-7
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Timber Ghost Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2021
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
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
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