A compelling study of power, sociopathy, and the possibilities of survival.
When Saskia joined Home, a secluded Maine commune, she thought she had finally found a family. But cults never quite turn out as one might hope.
It all began when Saskia’s 4-year-old little brother died. With her father in jail, her mother absconded, and her grandmother unwilling to care for her, Saskia’s family disintegrates. Sent to live with family friends just after she turns 12, she initially thrives. Phillip, her new father figure, is an eccentric painter, and although his wife, Jane, is rarely around, Saskia soon bonds with their son, Xavier, who's her age. Then Jane decides not to come home, and Phillip takes them to Home, where the enigmatic leader, Abraham, holds court, urging everyone to “Unthing” themselves and give up all worldly attachments. There in the woods of Maine, Saskia finds new friends among the other kids. But she is also surrounded by adults trying to navigate marital and financial difficulties. In the background, the siege on Waco has Abraham on edge, and bad choices eventually erupt in a catastrophic event. Sixteen years later, Saskia and her friends from Home are living separate lives: Xavier and his husband are trying to adopt a child, Ben and Cornelia have built their own families, Issy is a single mom. Only Saskia lives alone and isolated in her late grandmother's Connecticut house. Mysterious letters have arrived in all their mailboxes, luring them back to Home, threatening to reveal a terrible secret. As the tightly structured chapters toggle between Saskia’s past and present, Beverly-Whittemore deftly ratchets up the tension by slowly, almost imperceptibly revealing the psychological troubles haunting not only Saskia, but also Abraham. Avoiding the expected storyline of “cult leader sexually abuses young girl,” Beverly-Whittemore crafts something else entirely as the sins of the past come home to roost.
A compelling study of power, sociopathy, and the possibilities of survival.Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77942-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.
The 25th novel featuring Silva’s legendary protagonist.
During his intersecting careers as art restorer and Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon has tangled with Russian gangsters and al-Qaida terrorists. He has become well-acquainted with operatives in multiple security agencies and befriended a paid assassin. He has busted art thieves and created passable forgeries by Renaissance masters and abstract Modernists. This latest installment centers around his relationship with the pope and a newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci that has gone missing from the Vatican. Silva’s novels tend to fall into two categories: books that reflect the politics of the day and books that don’t. His latest is one of the latter, which could be a treat for readers looking for escape, but it falls flat for a variety of reasons. Luxury has always been part of Gabriel Allon’s universe. It used to be an aspect of tradecraft, though. Allon would be wearing a very expensive suit and driving a very expensive car because he was posing as a client at a Swiss bank. Here, his wife is hosting a catered lunch for 150 of their daughter’s classmates in their apartment overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. What once felt like a scintillating peek into the world of the obscenely wealthy now just feels…kind of obscene. Similarly, Allon goes chasing after a missing painting as a civilian—he retired from Mossad in Portrait of an Unknown Woman (2022)—the same way another man his age might buy a speedboat or get hair plugs. As the story progresses, the stakes are raised, but it’s hard to forget that Allon is now a middle-aged man pursuing a dangerous hobby, rather than a spymaster leading his intrepid team to prevent a disaster that will disrupt the global order.
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063384217
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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