A political thriller as engrossing as it is thoughtful.
Two American agents are sent to China to investigate a major art theft in Witham’s international thriller.
When a Vermeer painting that was pilfered from the Gardner Museum in Boston 30 years ago suddenly resurfaces in China,the entire alphabet soup of American agencies takes notice. However, given the enormous stress the situation places on diplomatic detente, any attempt to recover the art must conducted with great stealth and delicacy, a complex predicament lucidly portrayed by the author in this scrupulously researched novel. The CIA sends two agents, Julian Peale and Grace Ho; the former is a military veteran who served in Afghanistan, the latter a first-generation Chinese-American (she prefers American-Chinese) who was trained by the Marines. Both have a deep knowledge of art history. Julian and Grace must manage the “interagency wrangle” they step into—the competitive jostling of various intelligence groups, American and otherwise—as well as the complexity of China’s own internecine disputes. Witham’s comprehension of Chinese culture and all of its entangled nuances is extraordinary—if nothing else, this novel is an impressive feat of scholarship. He demonstrates a similarly powerful command of art history, which is absolutely essential to the plot. The complexity of the characters is welcome—the author develops his principal players into fully realized human beings driven by multiple motivations. Art dealer Quang Daiyu, who runs the Silk Road Company, is marvelously dynamic—she is often moved by the simple pursuit of wealth, the means by which one can “buy freedom and privilege” in a China as godless as she is. However, she also sees herself as belonging to a royal line that stretches back to the days of China’s cultural dominance, a position she desperately wants to restore. This is an intellectually subtle but highly readable thriller, one that entertains without resorting to cheap formula or authorial condescension.
A political thriller as engrossing as it is thoughtful.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2023
ISBN: 978-1665749060
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Although it lacks the surgical precision of Slaughter’s very best nightmares, this one richly earns its title.
More than a decade after a Georgia man is convicted of a monstrous double murder, an uncomfortably similar crime frees him and resets the search for the guilty party.
In Clifton County, home to the Rich Cliftons and the other Cliftons, the disappearance of teens Madison Dalrymple and Cheyenne Baker during the Halloween festivities hits everyone in North Falls hard. Working with her father, Sheriff Gerald Clifton, Deputy Emmy Lou Clifton hears the clock ticking down as she races frantically to get leads on the two friends, who’d been secretly plotting to take off for Atlanta after some undisclosed big score. As a longtime friend of Madison’s mother, Hannah, Emmy hopes against hope to find the missing teens before they’re both dead. By the time Emmy’s hopes are dashed, two unpleasantly likely suspects with strong attachments to underage sex partners have emerged, and one of them ends up in prison. In a bold move, Slaughter jumps over the next 12 years to the case of Paisley Walker, a 14-year-old whose disappearance catches the eye of retiring FBI criminal psychologist Jude Archer, who promptly crosses the country to come to Clifton County and take charge—um, that is, consult—on this heartrending new investigation. Emmy, suddenly and shockingly deprived of counsel from the parents who’ve supported her all her life, doesn’t get along any better with Jude than with the larger circle of Cliftons and the Clifton-Cliftons. But together they identify one new suspect, then another, before a shootout that arrives so early you just know there are still more surprises to come.
Although it lacks the surgical precision of Slaughter’s very best nightmares, this one richly earns its title.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9780063336773
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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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