Enthralling drama permeates this extraordinary sophomore novel.
A lawyer’s sighting of a strangely familiar boy stirs up memories of his troubled past in Ristau’s metaphysical sequel novel, set in 2001.
By all appearances, Ricky Williamson has made a good life for himself as a single 35-year-old attorney living in the Midwest. However, he’s still recovering from the trauma of being beaten and raped at summer camp 25 years before. During a morning run, he finds a boy floating face-up in a lake, apparently in trouble. He pulls him to safety and sees that he looks a lot like he did when he was 10 years old. The lawyer’s mind keeps pulling him back to his days at camp; since that time, he’s suffered bouts of depression and has been prone to violent outbursts. He’s also having problems at his latest job, where he’s unearthed shady business practices. However, the amnesiac boy, whom Ricky takes in, helps him to reexamine the life he’s led and think about changing it for the better. Ristau’s follow-up to A Hero Dreams (2017), like its predecessor, is a painstaking character study. Ricky’s ever winding path from childhood to adulthood features bright moments and dark troubles. His hostility toward his enemies, such as a boss who bullies him, builds up through the years, and in 2001, he seems on the verge of exploding. The sharply written narrative gives Ricky a shot at making better choices; the latter half dives deep into his memories and fantasies, sparking an indelible dreamlike section as Ricky revisits the trauma that’s long weighed on him. Moreover, real-world history plays a significant role in the plot, including the looming 9/11 attacks. Although it’s not a necessity, readers should read the earlier book in the series first, as it further enriches this one, which may pave the way for a third installment.
Enthralling drama permeates this extraordinary sophomore novel.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64343-794-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A weird, wild ride.
Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.
Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels—Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.
A weird, wild ride.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.
The ne’er-do-well son of a successful Irish American family gets dragged into criminal complications that suggest the rest of the Devlins aren’t exactly the upstanding citizens they appear.
The first 35 years in the life of Thomas “TJ” Devlin have been one disappointment after another to his parents, lawyers who founded a prosperous insurance and reinsurance firm, and his more successful siblings, John and Gabby. A longtime alcoholic who’s been unemployable ever since he did time for an incident involving his ex-girlfriend Carrie’s then 2-year-old daughter, TJ is nominally an investigator for Devlin & Devlin, but everyone knows the post is a sinecure. Things change dramatically when golden-boy John tells TJ that he just killed Neil Lemaire, an accountant for D&D client Runstan Electronics. Their speedy return to the murder scene reveals no corpse, so the brothers breathe easier—until Lemaire turns up shot to death in his car. John’s way of avoiding anything that might jeopardize his status as heir apparent to D&D is to throw TJ under the bus, blaming him for everything John himself has done and adding that you can’t trust anything his brother has said since he’s fallen off the wagon. TJ, who’s maintained his sobriety a day at a time for nearly two years, feels outraged, but neither the police investigating the murder nor his nearest and dearest care about his feelings. Forget the forgettable mystery, whose solution will leave you shrugging instead of gasping, and focus on the circular firing squad of the Devlins, and you’ll have a much better time than TJ.
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780525539704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
