Sisterhood is powerful in surprising ways in this twisty, satisfying thriller.
Breaking up isn’t just hard to do—it can be fatal.
The Blacksmith sisters have very different personalities—perfectionist Vera and chaos agent Ana often clash. But they’re bound by tragedy, having been orphaned after their mother was convicted of murdering their father, then died in prison herself. Vera and Ana were raised by their aunt, Agnes, a florist who also made traditional potions and teas for cramps, hot flashes, and other female ailments. She led The Cove, a group of similarly interested women, and hoped one of the sisters would eventually take over its leadership. But by the time this novel begins, Agnes is long gone and Vera and Ana have moved on. Ana hops from job to job and man to man while Vera is laser focused on her businessman husband, Brad Kline, and their teenage kids, fierce Coraline and goofball Grant, all of whom she tracks with digital devices. The sisters’ past comes back into play, though, when Vera hosts a brunch “ex-orcism” to celebrate Ana’s breakup with her latest bad boyfriend, Paul Hayes. He owns a high-powered advertising firm and has a rumored tendency to sexually harass his employees (or worse). Amid the mimosas, a police detective arrives looking for Ana, to let her know Paul’s body has been found in a shallow grave in a remote park. Things go from bad to worse when a guest, Ana’s college bestie Iggy Caine, who recently gave birth to her first child, faints. Though she recovers quickly, she soon falls ill and is hospitalized in a coma as her adoring husband, Brock (another of Ana’s exes), agonizes at her bedside. And one other thing—Ana had previously met the detective, Timothy Bandeau, via a sex-with-no-strings app called HookUp, but neither of them is talking. It seems everyone who knew Paul has reason to want him dead, but it’s hard to imagine who would harm sweet, guileless Iggy. As the intricate links between the crimes become clear, Unger keeps the suspense in high gear, skillfully swinging among several vividly portrayed first-person narrators.
Sisterhood is powerful in surprising ways in this twisty, satisfying thriller.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780778360056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Park Row Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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