A typical Longworth cassoulet of good food, fine wine, and murder.
A community carol sing turns deadly.
Christmas season is a trying time for examining magistrate Antoine Verlaque (The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche, 2018, etc.). Booths crowd the town square of Aix, blocking access to his favorite cafes, and when he watches his friends celebrate, it brings back sad memories of his own neglectful parents. But this year, his wife, Marine Bonnet, on leave from her job teaching law to write a book, seems unusually eager to join the community caroling at the Anglo-Protestant Church of Aix, so he reluctantly agrees to accompany her. And it’s a good thing he does, since right before the service, American expat Cole Hainsby eats a plate of food provided by vendors from Aix’s sister cities across Europe, Africa, and North America—and dies. Verlaque quickly determines that Hainsby was poisoned. The list of suspects is extensive. Hainsby was a shady operator who may be in debt to even shadier Corsicans from Marseille. His wife, Debra, is exasperated by his financial failures and perhaps a little too cozy with her boss, Alain Sorba, who runs an expensive private school for students who don’t quite fit into Aix’s excellent public schools. Verlaque must also ponder whether the couple from Perugia who made the eggplant Parmesan or the Philadelphia siblings who whipped up the cheesesteaks may have had some unknown reason to do away with the entrepreneur. But the knotty problem doesn’t prevent Verlaque from enjoying his favorite eating places and even discovering an excellent new addition to Aix’s dining scene.
A typical Longworth cassoulet of good food, fine wine, and murder.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-14-313406-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will find this comfortingly familiar despite (or maybe because of?) the shocks and...
In Pinborough’s (Behind Her Eyes, 2018, etc.) twisty, decade-spanning, multivoiced thriller, everyone has secrets: teenager Ava; her mom, Lisa; and Lisa’s best friend, Marilyn.
On the surface, all three women fulfill the roles expected of them, and they support and love one another, but they don’t truly know each other. Ava, a competitive swimmer, is finishing up her exams and sneaking around with her first boyfriend while overly protective mom Lisa is about to clinch a big contract at work—and maybe even go on a date with a handsome millionaire client. Marilyn has been dealing with headaches at home, but she’s still game for a shopping trip to outfit Lisa for that big date. Soon, however, they will discover that someone else in their lives has a secret much darker than any they carry. This person is a murderer who is stalking a childhood friend who, they believe, betrayed their deepest trust. There are a lot of plot twists and reveals within the novel, some of which are surprising, some of which are expected. Pinborough weaves several different time periods and several different narrative voices to create layers of character and conflict, but the characters are types often found in psychological thrillers, and while their problems are often relatable, at least at first, they aren’t particularly engaging. It’s clear which decisions, and which silences, are going to get them into trouble, and yet, as people do, they carry on anyway. The one element that sets Pinborough’s novel apart from the slew of similar thrillers is the emphasis on female empowerment and the power of female relationships. These women need no one to save them, no knights in shining armor or handsome cops. As Marilyn succinctly puts it, “Fuck. That. Shit.”
Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will find this comfortingly familiar despite (or maybe because of?) the shocks and turns along the way.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-285679-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
This one has it all: sexual predation, financial skulduggery, reluctant heroism, even the power of social media.
A compelling, complex thriller as modern as tomorrow.
Mina (The Long Drop, 2017, etc.) leaves historical Glasgow and sets this crackling tale in the very moment. Sophie Bukaran is living as Anna McDonald; she's hidden herself in Glasgow, in marriage to a lawyer, in being mother to two girls. Then one November morning, between episodes of a true-crime podcast called Death and the Dana, her life "explode[s]." Her best friend, Estelle, is at the door, and Anna's husband reveals that he and Estelle are lovers and they're leaving with the girls. Anna considers suicide, but the podcast distracts her. Leon Parker and his family have died aboard the Dana, and the ship's cook has been convicted. The podcast asserts that the cook could not be guilty and the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide committed by Parker. But Anna knew Leon Parker and feels he could not be the culprit, so she decides to try to learn more about his fate. When Estelle's anorexic and feckless husband, Fin, a minor rock-and-roll celebrity, appears at her door, he is caught up in her decision, and they eventually create a companion podcast that details their explorations. But in the process Anna and Fin are photographed and the pictures posted online, so Anna's quest becomes entwined with threats to Sophie Bukaran's life. Years earlier Sophie was raped by members of a beloved football team, and her accusations threatened the team's reputation and value. When the only corroborator of her testimony was silenced, Sophie was discredited in the usual manner: Her morals were questionable, she was possibly drunk, she was seeking money. Dismissed and subjected to public vilification, Sophie disappeared. But a new witness has come forward and could confirm Sophie's accusations, and her reappearance again threatens a financial empire. As Fin's podcast becomes wildly popular and he and Anna begin to unravel the mystery of Leon Parker's death, the assassins seeking Sophie close in.
This one has it all: sexual predation, financial skulduggery, reluctant heroism, even the power of social media.Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-52850-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Mulholland Books/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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