A diverting, intelligent fusion of black comedy and political thriller.
In this novel, people in a near-future world clash with a hateful right-wing group operating in Europe.
Jim, a nearly 50-year-old Londoner, first hears of the Nous Sommes La France while enjoying his retirement on a cruise ship. NSLF is a xenophobic organization that’s singled out the Mashubians, immigrants that hail from Ukraine and Belarus. Jim sees the extent of NSLF’s hostility in the French town of Le Rayol when an anti-immigrant demonstration turns violent. Meanwhile, travel journalist Jean-Pierre, whom Jim meets on the cruise, covers the Mashubian story for a right-leaning newspaper. It’s just a job, as his political beliefs are the antithesis of the publication’s. He makes the dangerous choice to infiltrate the NSLF, certain it’s up to something even more sinister than opposing immigration. The journalist winds up in Jim’s hometown, where hate-fueled We Are England rallies are soon on the rise. Demands of repatriation in France, Britain, and elsewhere spur riots as well as targeted assaults. Jean-Pierre struggles to unravel the two groups’ mysteries, including WAE’s enigmatic, never-seen founder. Tree deftly pairs humor with this novel’s hard-hitting commentary. A public speech on climate change, for example, blames some of the carbon dioxide emissions on “farting cows.” But characters against immigration are undeniably loathsome racists whose despondent message is akin to real-life groups around the world. Much of Jim’s first-person narration as well as Jean-Pierre’s corresponding letters to his love, Helen, teems with clear-eyed political discourse and rhetoric. The author also delivers an abundance of vivid passages, like this one about Jim’s early morning walk in France: “The small-hours light was mucky as dishwater, and the remnants of the night were on the narrow streets of the old town.” As the engaging story unfolds, a few surprises pop up, from something a scientist devises for the WAE and NSLF to a startling revelation involving the Mashubians.
A diverting, intelligent fusion of black comedy and political thriller.Pub Date: Dec. 22, 2022
ISBN: 9798366659079
Page Count: 369
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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