An entertaining thriller with a nervy plot and a timely warning about extremism hiding in plain sight.
A Jewish lawyer organizes a hunt for a neo-Nazi terrorist—and then defends him in court—in Bello’s twisty political suspenser.
Detroit lawyer Zachary Blake is attending the bar mitzvah of his pal Rich Cooper’s son, Josh, at Temple Kol Yisrael when a bomb explodes; in the aftermath, Josh and the Coopers’ next-door neighbor, Chip Ellis, are missing and are feared kidnapped. Zach, dubbed the “King of Justice” for his crusading lawsuits and for prosecuting the impeachment trial that ousted the Trump-like President Ron John from office, gathers his usual posse of crime fighters. A ransom demand arrives from Winger Wright, the shadowy head of the Patriotic Storm Troopers, who denounces Jews as “an all-present, parasitic evil” and demands $3 million to release Josh and Chip. Despite the interference of FBI Special Agent in Charge Dan Harrelson, who wants to kick them off the case, Zack and company put their considerable forensic skills to work. They are shocked when the white-nationalist ringleader is identified as someone at the very center of the incident. Spurred by a sense of personal obligation, Zach reluctantly agrees to defend the accused, even though he thinks the man is guilty—and capable of more antisemitic terrorism. Bello, a Michigan attorney, paints a rich portrait of Detroit’s Jewish community that wears its liberal politics on its sleeve. There are subtle psychological currents in the narrative, as when Josh, menaced and starved by his captors, gradually forges a bond with a bullied young guard. Bello also steeps readers in nifty procedural beats, from intricate cyber-sleuthing to canny legal strategizing, all conveyed in lean, vigorous prose (“The eye-witness testimony of a confessed, convicted domestic terrorist and the untrained ears of a traumatized kid are hardly enough evidence to convict someone of kidnapping and murder”). The result is an engrossing tug-of-war between Zach’s moral promptings and the law’s demands.
An entertaining thriller with a nervy plot and a timely warning about extremism hiding in plain sight.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2024
ISBN: 978-1956595178
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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