An ambitious but melodramatic courtroom tale.
A scarred man goes on trial for the death of the woman he loved in this legal thriller.
Jack Holt is standing trial for rape and murder. The victim is Maggie Navarro Stewart, a world-famous model and millionaire who was trapped in an abusive marriage to gastroenterologist Daniel Stewart. Jack and Maggie met by chance one day in a park, and she saw something in the humble warehouse worker that no one had before. Jack still bears the scars—physical and emotional—from the childhood accident that killed his father and sisters. The disfigurement to his face has mostly kept him from love—until he met Maggie, that is. Then, one day, Maggie disappeared shortly after informing Daniel she wanted a divorce. She was soon found strangled to death. Police discovered Jack’s DNA on her person, and he did not help himself by refusing to talk to them. Now, he may be facing life in prison. Jack is given a public defender, the disgraced lawyer Joe Hammer. Joe used to be a great prosecutor before he was disbarred for withholding evidence. His wife left him after the incident, and he’s since been plagued with stomach disorders and sleeping problems. Defending Jack is his shot at redemption, and he means to do it by the book. Meanwhile, a jury of conflicting personalities is assembled to rule on the case. Most are ready to convict Jack, but a few holdouts force the jury to consider the alternative. The trial will prove a roller coaster for all involved, as new facts and surprise witnesses continue to alter the shape of the case. As the trial goes on, Jack increasingly escapes into his dreams, where he and the dead Maggie discuss the events that brought them there—and whether or not he should join her in the afterlife.
Elzey makes bold choices with the novel’s structure, leaping forward and backward in time and using dream sequences to fill in much of Jack’s and Maggie’s backstories. The prose is readable, but there is a draftlike quality to it that suggests a lack of editing. Here he takes three sentences to communicate the age of one character: “When I first saw my former boss, I couldn’t believe how old he had become. The man I hadn’t seen in many years had become a withered old man. The eighty-three-year-old judge with the help of a cane stood up to greet me.” Nearly every aspect of the story displays the same heavy-handedness. The dead Maggie is idealized while Jack has a saintly disinterest in the world. Neither feels much like a real character, and their relationship will be no more believable to readers than it is to the members of the jury. Racist juror Henry Keller is a cartoon version of a bigot, taking every opportunity to offend each person he comes in contact with. The author attempts to tie up these threads in a statement about the two different Americas—one of opportunity and one of imprisonment—but it’s all a bit too soapy to make an impact.
An ambitious but melodramatic courtroom tale.Pub Date: June 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73405-465-1
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Little House Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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