A flawless and compassionate psychological thriller.
When an idealistic young police officer responds to a call of domestic assault and subsequently becomes friends with the victim, the lives of the two women become intertwined in an increasingly sinister way and the line between rescuer and prey becomes fatally blurred.
Philomena McCarthy may be the daughter of a notorious London gangster, but ever since the age of 11, when she was injured in the terrorist bombing of a bus, she has known that she wanted to join the London Metropolitan Police to become the kind of officer who saved her that day. And 16 years later, she has fulfilled that ambition and witnessed a great deal. “Most people look at London and see landmarks,” she explains. “I see the maimed, broken, and the addicted, the eyewitnesses, the innocent bystanders, and the bereaved.” Something new awaits Phil, however, when she assists Tempe Brown, a terrified young woman, and arrests Tempe’s assailant, who turns out to be a high-ranking police officer hailed as a hero for his courage during a headline-grabbing knife attack. As the expertly paced first-person narrative accelerates, the reader is drawn into Phil’s personal life and, at the same time, immersed in the world of everyday policing and the darker realm of corruption and dirty politics. “I am a good police officer,” Phil protests. “You don’t have to convince me,” her partner replies, “but they are trying to drive you out. And you can’t afford to make any mistakes.” But is her most serious mistake her new and needy best friend? Sidestepping all the clichés—the tough-girl humor is perfectly pitched and never overdone—the novel is as psychologically nuanced and emotionally engaging as it is suspenseful. There will be a wedding finally, after several funerals, but “summer has ended,” Phil notes, “and the air is growing cooler as the days shorten. I am not the same person I was four months ago, or even a week ago, or even this morning.” And the reader believes her.
A flawless and compassionate psychological thriller.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982166-45-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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
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
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