A haunting psychological thriller that fascinates as much as it frightens.
In Upton’s novel, an epidemic survivor slowly recovers while surrounded by terrifying secrets.
Riatta was one of the victims of “the collapse,” a catastrophic outbreak, mostly in the northeastern United States, of inexplicable organ failure. Many victims received synthetic organs as transplants, but others, like Riatta, received a “diseased” organ; the latter group developed a “scalded-looking” skin condition called withers. Post-surgery, Riatta is staying with Dwight and Elizabeth Thomason in a housing development where many medical professionals live; Dwight, in fact, is the doctor who performed Riatta’s transplant. She’s grateful and helps the couple out by walking their dog and occasionally watching their toddler son. But it’s not all sunshine; a meddling neighbor unnerves Riatta, and strangers stare at her skin in public. Dwight seems standoffish, but Elizabeth, a professional therapist, is affectionate and friendly, and when it turns out that Elizabeth is pregnant, Riatta wants to stay by her side and support her. Elsewhere in the country, horrors unfold: Someone is killing expectant mothers (natural-born babies are rare in this technologically advanced future), and people with withers are targets of violence as well—even from the families of those who have provided transplant organs. There’s a great deal to unpack in Upton’s short but sinuous tale. The character development is rich and complex; Riatta, for example, struggles with the loss of her own baby daughter to the collapse, which heightens the dramatic stakes surrounding Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and the Thomasons’ new hire to help around the house could be trouble. The story ably tackles themes of grief, isolation, and ostracism. Characters are grounded and frequently relatable in a relentlessly tense narrative that has the feel of an unexplainable dread that won’t go away. All the while, the author’s crisp, edgy prose makes even a simple trip to a multimedia art exhibit an emotionally draining experience; Riatta wonders if the art piece is meant to pay tribute to the collapse’s many victims: “The faces swelled and floated before growing smaller and disappearing and welling up again in smoky coils, each face regenerating and blooming before once again dissolving.”
A haunting psychological thriller that fascinates as much as it frightens.Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9781646037322
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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