A story rooted more deeply in setting than in suspense.
When her husband goes missing, Nora challenges the balance of power in her wealthy community to find out what happened.
It’s not easy being a younger second wife. As she surveys the glamorous party she’s throwing for her husband Will’s 46th birthday, 28-year-old Nora Somerset knows that to the ultrawealthy society of Winter Park, Florida, she’s an interloper. But after a whirlwind courtship with “Hot Mean Lawyer” Will, Nora seems to have hooked the white whale—and she’s head-over-heels in love with him. Never mind that his first wife cuts her dead every time they meet; never mind that his law partner has pressured her to sign an agreement in case the marriage doesn’t work out; and never mind that Will, a workaholic, rarely comes home for dinner and shuts her out of his business life. She finds good friends in free-spirited millionaire neighbor Este, her husband, Beau, and their friend Marcus. Despite some marital struggles between Nora and Will, the party celebrates not only Will’s birthday but also their recent recommitment to each other. So when Will gets a phone call just before they go upstairs at the end of the evening, Nora isn’t worried. And when she wakes up alone the next day, she figures he’s at work. But when two days go by without any sign from Will, it becomes clear that something has happened: Her husband is missing and—after his shirt is discovered in the lake behind their house—is presumed dead. The novel begins on the night of the party and then tells the story both forward from the couple’s first meet-cute and forward from Will’s disappearance. Nora is a feisty, self-aware, and appealing character, but as thrillers go, this is pretty tame. The focus on the wealthy community of Winter Park necessarily limits the possible suspects, so there isn’t much suspense baked in. The fascination lies in the way Lavender and Shores pull back the curtain on this enclave of affluence, and how Nora is both repelled and seduced by this world.
A story rooted more deeply in setting than in suspense.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780593974377
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.
An author is targeted by a fan who just can’t let her go.
Arden Bowie has had plenty of tragedy in her life, but now she’s finally on top. After her parents died when she was a teenager, she moved from Brooklyn to Ohio to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She soon became part of their loving family and grew up to become a writer and bookseller. When her debut novel is published, she meets Dustin Dubecki at her first event. He showers her with praise, asks for writing advice, and wants to take her out for coffee. Arden tells herself he’s just a little awkward, but then he keeps showing up at her local events—and, even stranger, she’s sure she sees him lurking at her event in New York City. When he bursts into her apartment one night and assaults her, Arden’s calm life is shattered. Dustin gets a five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility; Arden spends most of that time rebuilding her sense of stability. Eventually, she moves to Oregon to start a new life where Dustin can never find her. But even though she has a beautiful home, a thriving career, a doting family, new friends, and even a potential love interest in a former cop named Gideon Riley, Arden can’t escape Dustin’s rage when his sentence is finally up. Roberts toggles between Arden’s point of view and Dustin’s, giving the reader occasional glimpses into his extremely twisted mindset. Although Arden’s attempts to escape Dustin are engrossing, the story stalls in the middle when far too many pages are dedicated to Arden purchasing and decorating a house. But the excitement picks back up when Dustin, a truly odious villain, re-enters the story. It’s also satisfying to see Arden grow into someone who refuses to be a victim, even as she deals with horrifying circumstances.
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250413581
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 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.
