The mixture is as before, with a bit less of everything except suspects and red herrings.
The latest from Clark (The Sleeping Beauty Killer, 2016, etc.) is retro even for her: the maiden voyage of a trans-Atlantic ship crammed with more beautiful people, gossips, thieves, and killers than Death on the Nile—or her own daughter Carol Higgins Clark’s 1992 debut, Decked.
If you don’t already know, billionaire owner Gregory Morrison will be happy to tell you that the Queen Charlotte is the most luxurious ship to take to the seas since the Titanic. Among its stratospherically upscale appointments are invited lecturers Henry Longworth (Shakespeare) and Celia Kilbride (gemology) and a passenger list that includes Lady Emily Haywood, who owns the fabulous but famously cursed Cleopatra emerald necklace; her companion, Brenda Martin; her investment adviser, Roger Pearson, and Roger’s wife, Yvonne; Kansas divorcée Anna DeMille, who won the cruise in a church raffle; Ted Cavanaugh, an attorney trying to get Lady Em to return the necklace to Egypt; “the man with one thousand faces,” who’s bent on stealing the necklace; and Devon Michaelson, the Interpol agent charged with protecting the necklace. How does this all work out? After two murderous attacks, Morrison tells Michaelson in some exasperation, “Well, I must say you’ve done a lousy job,” and it’s hard to disagree. On the other hand, the accommodations are superb, the food and drinks unexcelled, the lectures informative, and the necklace safer than you might think because the thief keeps attacking its keepers just after they’ve passed it off to someone else. Long-ago lottery winners Alvirah and Willy Meehan, familiar to Clark fans (The Lottery Winner, 1994, etc.), are on hand to celebrate their 45th anniversary and provide what Alvirah considers great detective work, though even fans may be unimpressed on this score.
The mixture is as before, with a bit less of everything except suspects and red herrings.Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5011-3111-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Spooky, witty, and observant, Racculia's novel of friendship and bigger-than-life aspirations is a treasure.
A motley crew of Bostonians seeks an eccentric millionaire's fortune in an epic, citywide treasure hunt that kicks off after his untimely death.
Tuesday Mooney is the best prospect researcher on Boston General Hospital's fundraising team, a "bizarro know-it-all tall girl" with the aura of a grown-up Wednesday Addams. Despite her reputation as a formidable, reclusive "woman in black," Tuesday nurtures a few friendships, albeit at arm’s length. There's Dex Howard, a karaoke-obsessed financier perpetually unlucky in love; Tuesday's neighbor Dorry Bones, a motherless Somerville teen in desperate need of a role model; and Abby Hobbes, a Ouija board–wielding classmate who disappeared during Tuesday's teenage years—and who just so happens to be haunting her in adulthood. When cape-wearing Poe fanatic Vincent Pryce keels over at a hospital charity auction midbid, Tuesday uses all the skills—and hospital databases—at her disposal to win a portion of Pryce's incredible fortune. But will Tuesday's past, and her poor judgment, catch up with her before she can win? And will her partnership with the strange but charming tycoon Nathaniel Arches sink or buoy her chances of success? Racculia (Bellweather Rhapsody, 2014, etc.) returns with a roaring adventure novel that never loses sight of adulthood's woes: Characters lament their school loan balances and worry about selling out in their careers, struggle with intimacy, and occasionally stew in self-loathing. Even as the whimsical treasure hunt picks up its pace on Boston Common and in the tunnels of the T, Racculia ensures that real livelihoods—and lives—are at stake. The result is thrilling, romantic, and charming as all get out, a love letter to former witchy girls and compulsive dreamers that will make readers reassess what—and who—they value.
Spooky, witty, and observant, Racculia's novel of friendship and bigger-than-life aspirations is a treasure.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-358-02393-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inside this bloated novel is a lean thriller starring a strong and damaged protagonist who's as compelling as Lisbeth...
In Brennan’s (Nothing To Hide, 2019, etc.) new series launch, a hard-edged female LAPD undercover cop and an ambitious FBI special agent race to catch a serial killer before he strikes again.
On paid administrative leave since an incident with a suspect went wrong, a restless Detective Kara Quinn is on an early morning run in her hometown of Liberty Lake, Washington, when she discovers the flayed corpse of a young nurse. In D.C., FBI Special Agent in Charge Mathias Costa is staffing the new Mobile Response Team, designed to cover rural areas underserved by law enforcement, when his boss assigns Matt and analyst Ryder Kim to Liberty Lake. The notorious Triple Killer, who murders three random victims, three days apart, every three years, has returned. With only six days to identify and catch the culprit, and only three days until he kills again, the team is “on a very tight clock.” What should be on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense turns into a slog marred by pedestrian prose (“she heard nothing except birds chirping…”), a convoluted plot slowed down by a focus on dull bureaucratic infighting, and flat character development. The sole exception is the vividly drawn Kara. Smart, angry, defensive, complicated, she fascinates both the reader and Matt ("Kara Quinn was different—and he couldn’t put his finger on why”).
Inside this bloated novel is a lean thriller starring a strong and damaged protagonist who's as compelling as Lisbeth Salander.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7783-0944-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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