A taut medical thriller that will keep readers in suspense “to the bitter end.”
A doctor must reckon with her traumatic childhood to expose a far-reaching conspiracy that targets infants in Haarsager’s thriller.
The tragic and increasingly suspicious death of an infant transferred to Children’s Hospital in Baltimore sends Dr. Lussi Sim down a conspiratorial rabbit hole. Dr. Sim’s “integrity, intelligence, work ethic and perseverance” are put to the ultimate test when she uncovers an “appalling” rogue operation being perpetrated by “a highly sophisticated and depraved international network.” When she is ordered to cease her investigatory activities and to keep a low profile, her internal response is, inevitably, “I can’t do what you ask.” The author, herself a doctor, establishes a sense of menace from the get-go as Dr. Sim notices she is being tailed by a black limousine on the night she is called in about the infant, who had been misdiagnosed at another hospital. The deeper her suspicions go and the closer she gets to figuring out what’s going on, the more serious the threats on her life become. (In one harrowing scene, she is injected with a killer dose of fentanyl.) An effective hospital-set thriller, this debut novel is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to setting its plot in motion. Haarsager knows her way around a hospital, and in Dr. Sim, who is haunted by flashbacks and nightmares born of childhood trauma, she creates an empathetic character whose professional expertise can be undermined by her personal demons. Early on, she is revisited by a childhood malady of “screams and shouting” in her head: “Her body tensed and she could feel sweat trickling between her breasts and shoulder blades as the threats...mounted in ferocity.” The conspiracy targets the most vulnerable, which makes the perpetrators especially heinous. The final portion of the book is on the talky side when it comes to “unanswered questions,” but this will be appreciated by those who like their mysteries spoon-fed.
A taut medical thriller that will keep readers in suspense “to the bitter end.”Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9798886793826
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Luminare Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable visit with an old character, but not one of Ware’s strongest.
Travel writer Lo Blacklock is back. Ten years after the events of The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016), she's attending the opening of a lavish Swiss hotel when, once again, a mystery intervenes.
A decade after she almost died on a luxury cruise and ended up exposing a murder plot, travel journalist Laura “Lo” Blacklock is trying to get back into the business post-Covid-19 and post–maternity leave. When she's invited to an exclusive hotel launch by the Leidmann Group on the shores of Switzerland’s gorgeous Lake Geneva, her supportive husband, Judah, insists that she should go, and her old boss, Rowan, says that if Lo can score an interview with the reclusive Marcus Leidmann, she’ll publish it in the Financial Times. Leaving Judah and the kids at home in New York, Lo is surprised by a last-minute upgrade to first class, which kicks off her trip in style. The hotel is appropriately awe-inspiring in both scenic location and effortless luxury, and Lo starts to put the memories of last trip’s trauma behind her, thinking that maybe she can just enjoy the experience this time. But then, at dinner, she's surprised to see at least three guests who were also on that original cruise, and when she finds a mysterious note in her room saying "Please come to suite 11 as soon as possible," she gets another shock. To quote William Faulkner, she realizes that “the past is never dead,” and soon Lo is careening across Europe on her way to England, only to find herself embroiled in another murder. The back half of the novel offers her the opportunity to continue her amateur sleuthing, and while she avoids much of the physical danger that plagued her on the cruise a decade ago, she is in very real legal trouble. This is the prolific Ware’s first sequel, and it's fun to spend time with Lo again, as she's both savvy and kindhearted. Unfortunately, the mystery is not as atmospheric and gripping as usual for Ware, though even a lesser Ruth Ware thriller is still worth reading.
An enjoyable visit with an old character, but not one of Ware’s strongest.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781668025628
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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