An exciting, testosterone-fueled gangster tale brimming with shootouts, shady characters, and clever historical nods.
In Granzow’s novel, a pair of immigrant brothers get more than they bargained for when they attempt to do business with the mob in Prohibition-era Minnesota.
This first installment of the Crooks’ Haven series introduces Niklas and Kessler Kristofferson, recent Danish immigrants who have settled in St. Paul. It’s the early 20th century, and they’re looking to sell their impressive cache of machine guns…for the right price. They seem to find a buyer in Barbieri, a Sicilian mobster with ties to the Chicago crime syndicate. But the Kristofferson brothers run into various roadblocks on their way toward sealing the deal, including getting tossed in jail before being swiftly bailed out by their contemptuous uncle. They must also continuously dodge the watchful eyes of Stauss, a (mostly) honest detective whose affinity for drag balls could threaten his career. After plenty of double-crossings and backend deals along the way (corruption appears to be unavoidable within the city, with even the chief of police himself enjoying the illicit pleasures of a speakeasy), the narrative builds to a bloody showdown with the ending expertly setting up the next book in the series. Unsurprisingly in a historical fiction novel featuring gangsters, fairly graphic violence and foul language appear consistently throughout. Despite some over-the-top dialogue (“Stop, damn you. You cruel bastard”), and the occasional ostentatious word choice (“his usual insouciant grin…”; “the amaroidal brew…”), Granzow creates a compelling and naturalistic world evoking a time of unprecedented violence and crime. Brief appearances by real persons provide further historical context as well as some occasional humor—such as when, after Niklas asks whether the hungover “local novelist” sitting at the bar (who turns out to be F. Scott Fitzgerald) is any good, Stauss replies, “Depends on your tastes. I find him a bit incoherent with plot, but he has potential.”
An exciting, testosterone-fueled gangster tale brimming with shootouts, shady characters, and clever historical nods.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2024
ISBN: 9798872141198
Page Count: 291
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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