A closer whose gunplay satisfies, but some readers may wish for deeper characterization.
A soldier on the run strives to save humanity in Walton’s intense conclusion to an action-packed trilogy.
Army Ranger Col. Miguel Mejia, aka APOK, is a fugitive after abducting Reficuel Nomed, one of the leaders of the one-world government who can prove that a shadowy group called the Board is secretly ruling the world. Miguel is lying low, as many believe that he was killed in action after drones bombed his mountain-cavern hiding place. The Board has killed almost everyone Miguel cares about, but he’s still driven to complete his mission and expose them. He’s separated from his allies, who include computer whiz Victor Moretti; Victor’s business partner, Joseph Connie; Joseph’s daughter, Paula, who’s in the military; and newswoman Carrie Warren, and all secretly work to resist the Board’s efforts. Fortunately, mistrust among the ambitious villains—including scheming Board underling Azzo, world leader Lindsey, and other Board members looking to consolidate power—gives the heroes opportunities they can exploit. Eventually, Miguel rejoins fellow members of the resistance, but only for a short while before mistakenly teaming up with an unreliable ally. Ultimately, however, his determination draws an unlikely army to him to combat the Board’s final attack. Walton leaves the conclusion open-ended enough for possible future volumes in the APOK fictional universe. For those who’ve read the previous two books in Walton’s series, this is likely to be a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy. However, those picking up the series for the first time may find that Miguel’s occasional flashbacks provide an unsatisfying amount of backstory. A few pages of recap would have been welcome, as it’s been a dozen years since the series began in 2013. This absence affects characterization, as well, as readers may find it difficult to connect with the various secondary players. Still, there’s no faulting Walton’s nonstop action, which will carry even newcomers along: “Raising her gun, Paula follows the buzzing sounds and aims at the red light hovering in the sky. She pulls the trigger. Brrrap!”
A closer whose gunplay satisfies, but some readers may wish for deeper characterization.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781038312426
Page Count: 600
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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