Endearing main characters help this caper rise above its clichés.
In this old-fashioned caper novel, two former high school heroes find themselves on the run from the law after they reconnect while vacationing with their families at Disney World.
Remember that handsome high school quarterback? The popular kid who scored on and off the field? In later life, he might resemble Joe Randall and Chad Dablusie, two old friends and aging heartthrobs whose glory days are long past. Despite having the world at their feet back in the 1950s, the men have tumbled into middle age, trading their athletic prowess and rock-star good looks for paunches and receding hairlines. They lost touch after graduation but reunite when they bump into each other on family vacations at Disney World. Joe and Chad are happily married to beautiful women and have lovely children, and if they no longer turn heads, they have successful, fulfilling lives. They reconnect immediately and spend a day ruminating about their shared past. Events take an unexpected turn when the dynamic duo try to regain their former cool by visiting Turn Back Time, a store that promises to help men look ten years younger. Following their makeovers, Joe and Chad are riding high and stumble into a drug bust. Suddenly they find themselves on the run from the law after people mistake them for high-powered criminals. The story follows their escapades and those of their families, who flee to a safe house. While Joe and Chad are lovable, Clark invests the other characters with less appeal. However, the two friends are the main show as they bumble through botched attempts to clear their names and return to normal lives. The story certainly requires a suspension of disbelief as Joe and Chad evade the authorities and find their lives at risk. The men also spend far too much time reminiscing about the old days, though the plot keeps moving. A surprise revelation and twist at the end make for interesting reading, though the abrupt conclusion leaves some strings hanging.
Endearing main characters help this caper rise above its clichés.Pub Date: March 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-1438948782
Page Count: 360
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2012
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
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