A meticulous and credible military thrill ride that should be lighter on its feet.
A team of American mercenaries tries to throttle an Iranian biological weapons program in this thriller.
Jake Woods had a long career as a Marine and an intelligence official and now serves as CEO of the Themis Cooperative, an unofficial paramilitary group that works to uphold national security. “To put it bluntly, we don’t exist,” says Jake of the shadowy organization, which is largely made up of retired military warriors, ex-Mossad agents, and an information technology guy. The group meets upon hearing of a serious threat to humanity: Iran has developed a lethal virus that it is planning to unleash on its neighbors in an attempt to establish a new Islamic empire and eliminate Israel. Themis is eager to launch its mission, but the current United States administration doesn’t like the idea, and a backhanded approach is necessary to gain approval to go ahead. The Iranians have employed Korean scientist Dae-Ho Park to develop the virus. Park doesn’t want to kill all of humanity, though, and won’t complete the project until he’s got a working vaccine. Themis operatives have only a short window to secure weaponry and travel to the Middle East to thwart one of the vilest attempts at genocide the world has ever seen. Downer’s ambitious adventure is packed with characters who have an immense amount of experience in the military and the intelligence field and have knowledge of weaponry, strategy, and international affairs that is impressive. The backstory and the introductions go slowly, though, and there is a wait for the plot to take flight. The intricate details, no matter the accuracy, can drag down the pace, but the characters are bright, unfailingly capable, and balanced in terms of experiences and personalities. The narrative flows better in the second half, but the lack of a central hero hurts the tale.
A meticulous and credible military thrill ride that should be lighter on its feet.Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 307
Publisher: Old Stone Press
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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