Superb characters headline this chilling, slow-burn crime tale.
An idyllic small American town may hide a seedy underbelly in this thriller.
Scott Casey and his parents have lived in Ridgeport, Illinois, since 1986. It’s a veritable utopia, crime-free and abundant in neighbors who greet folks with a smile. That’s not by accident; residents must abide by copious rules lest they suffer fines or lose their “residency cards” that give them discounts at local stores. Scott is a mere 10 years old in ’96 when he first gets an inkling that Ridgeport isn’t so squeaky clean. While the town hasn’t seen any murders, a few people have mysteriously disappeared. When someone Scott knows vanishes years later, he and his best friend, Matt Norris, focus their suspicions on Matt’s mom, Sue Ellen. She created and heads the Neighborhood Watch Committee but may not be as stable as she appears in public. The boys desperately want to know what’s in her secret room in the basement—one so secure they’ll need to manipulate a fingerprint scanner to get inside. But neither friend can anticipate what lies beyond that door. Kenealy gradually builds suspense in a story that spans a couple of decades. The tale begins in the ’80s as Scott’s mother, Loretta, seems to fall under Sue Ellen’s spell. But the narrative teases the 2004 date of Ridgeport’s first homicide and works its way to that fateful year. The author’s largely unadorned prose aptly details the town’s centurylong history as well as its fat “residency book” (required reading for newcomers). Kenealy also wisely focuses on the cast. Young Scott’s rebellious acts form an enjoyable coming-of-age subplot that includes an episode in which he and his friends sneak alcoholic drinks at a wedding. But no character outshines Sue Ellen; even readers can’t be sure what the dubious woman has actually done. The revealing final act drops more than one surprise as it deftly cranks up the tension.
Superb characters headline this chilling, slow-burn crime tale.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-98520-980-8
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
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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