An involving adventure in which the protagonist’s commitment to his child drives the story.
A former “super-soldier operator for hire” is forced back into the field to pay for his epileptic son’s medical treatments in Wilcox’s debut thriller.
There’s nothing that 40-something retiree Allen Moran would rather do than sunbathe while floating in his pool all day. But his son Benjamin’s chronic medical condition and the threat of his health insurance being cut off guide him back to his old career as a mercenary. Eamon Tor, the world’s first trillionaire and Moran’s former college roommate, makes him an ethically questionable offer that he can’t refuse: He wants Moran to destroy a competitor’s cell-editing technology called Eden Therapy. It’s the result of billions of dollars in research and is said to have cured its creator, 80-something Olivia Rusk, of stage 4 brain cancer. But Tor claims that Eden Therapy has devastating side effects, including paranoia, megalomania, and psychosis. If Moran can break into the heavily fortified research facility, wreck the therapy equipment, copy the technical plans, and retrieve a doctor who’s working undercover on Tor’s behalf, then the trillionaire promises to cover all of Benjamin’s treatments. The mission doesn’t go well for Moran, who’s captured and learns some shocking truths, and his rescue is up to his comrades in arms Haley, the daughter of a former colleague, and Kyle Thomas “MeatTank” Johnson, who’s “tall, lanky, and oozing with victorious swagger.” First-time author Wilcox takes his cue from vintage SF by presenting the novel’s high-tech, futuristic setting in a straightforward, matter-of-fact way; in the opening pages, for instance, a pre-retirement Moran is seen on a mission to wipe out “a bunch of robots…controlled by an evil dictator going village to village killing people.” One of the book’s most intriguing characters is Carol, Tor’s virtual assistant, who plays a more integral role in Eamon’s organization than merely greeting visitors. Although the banter could have been sharper, it does clearly define the relationships between various characters, specifically those between Moran and his colleagues.
An involving adventure in which the protagonist’s commitment to his child drives the story.Pub Date: April 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-50-923559-9
Page Count: 348
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.
A descendant of enslaved people fights a Florida developer over the future of a small island.
In 1760, the slave ship Venus breaks apart in a storm on its way to Savannah, and only a few survivors, all Africans, find their way safely to a tiny barrier island between Florida and Georgia. For two centuries, only formerly enslaved people and their descendants live there. A curse on white people hangs over the island, and none who ever set foot on it survive. Its last resident was Lovely Jackson, who departed as a teen in 1955. Today—well, in 2020—a developer called Tidal Breeze wants Florida’s permission to “develop” Dark Isle, which sits within bridge-building distance from the well-established Camino Island. The plot is an easy setup for Grisham, big people vs. little people. Lovely’s revered ancestors are buried on Dark Isle, which Hurricane Leo devastated from end to end. Lovely claims the islet’s ownership despite not having formal title, and she wants white folks to leave the place alone. But apparently Florida doesn’t have enough casinos and golf courses to suit some people. Surely developers can buy off that little old Black lady with a half million bucks. No? How about a million? “I wish they’d stop offering money,” Lovely complains. “I ain’t for sale.” Thus a non-jury court trial begins to establish ownership. The story has no legal fireworks, just ordinary maneuvering. The real fun is in the backstory, in the portrayal of the aptly named Lovely, and the skittishness of white people to step on the island as long as the ancient curse remains. Lovely has self-published a history of the island, and a sympathetic white woman named Mercer Mann decides to write a nonfiction account as well. When that book ultimately comes out, reviewers for Kirkus (and others) “raved on and on.” Don’t expect stunning twists, though early on Dark Isle gives four white guys a stark message. The tension ends with the judge’s verdict, but the remaining 30 pages bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780385545990
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
An irresistible hook, endless intricate complications, plucked heartstrings aplenty, and an inevitably disappointing windup.
Twenty-two years after waking up in Spain fouled with the blood of his lover of five days, an unlicensed investigator sees her alive once more in this dizzying standalone mystery.
Or maybe not. There’s no indication that anyone’s seen the woman Sami Kierce knew only as Anna since their last night together, which ended when he woke up in her bed clutching a bloody knife. And although the woman who crashes No Shit, Sherlock, the class Sami’s run for wannabe investigators ever since getting bounced from the NYPD after a rooftop pursuit left his quarry dead, looks just like Anna—well, it’s been over two decades, and all the evidence points to her actually being Victoria Belmond, the daughter of self-made millionaire Archie Belmond. Victoria has her own troubled history. She vanished from a New Year’s Eve party she was co-hosting three years before Sami’s fling with Anna and wasn’t seen again, except maybe by Sami, for 11 long years. Already unsettled because Tad Grayson, who was convicted on Sami’s testimony of murdering Nicole Brett, Sami’s fiancée, has been released because the court can’t trust the testimony of a dishonored cop, Sami meets with Belmond, who offers to share some personal information with him along with $100,000 if he signs a nondisclosure agreement and then offers half a million to dig up the truth behind Victoria’s presumed kidnapping. Just what is the truth about Anna? As Sami puts it: “She was Victoria. And she was not.”
An irresistible hook, endless intricate complications, plucked heartstrings aplenty, and an inevitably disappointing windup.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781538756355
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
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