A gripping novel about the intersection of art and crime.
An art student is drawn into a dark world of crime in Philbrick’s thriller.
At the heart of this narrative is the great artist Caravaggio—the novel concerns the breadth of his work, in particular 1609’s “The Adoration of Shepherds with Saint Lawrence and Saint Francis,” which was stolen from the Oratorio della Compagnia di San Lorenzo in Palermo in 1969. Philbrick sets her novel in the 1960s and introduces readers to Orazio Bordoni, an art aficionado who moves to Rome and (at first) dismisses his new landlady’s warnings about the criminal element hanging out in the public square. In Rome, he meets Lena Condotti and quickly falls in love with her; he also encounters Don Giotto, a charismatic scion of the Sicilian Mafia who also excites a strong emotional reaction (“Something about him challenged me,” Orazio confesses) as he introduces Orazio to a world of crime and violence. The persistent surprise of this novel is its explicit depiction of evil—not only Caravaggio’s deeds, as chronicled in the story’s frequent Renaissance flashbacks, but also the hard, violent demimonde to which Orazio is introduced by Don Giotto. The author’s skill at drawing her characters is impressive; even the supporting players (especially Vincenzo, a curator of the Vatican’s Secret Archives, who believes his document work brings glory to God) feel entirely fleshed out. The main narrative is organized around an allegory of the New Testament parable of the Prodigal Son, but the story Philbrick tells is much more nuanced and moving than any simple moral lesson, and the characters she creates here are all memorable. By the time a heartbroken Orazio wonders if he can graft himself back to the Bordoni vine, readers will be eagerly asking the same question.
A gripping novel about the intersection of art and crime.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9781649606921
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Emerald House Group, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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