This briskly paced story boasts intrigue, suspense, and series potential.
In Staley’s thriller, groups from around the globe are willing to kill to get their hands on a mysterious DNA code.
Renowned geneticist Dr. Alex Bishop’s newest project at a Washington, D.C., lab is top secret: The military is technologically capable of rewriting DNA to change human behavior, and it wants him to perfect it, allowing the tech to make these changes instantaneous. One night, while alone in the lab, Alex makes a startling discovery—a specific genetic code that could shake the entire world. He confides in FBI Special Agent Gabby Morgane, a loyal friend. That doesn’t stop a rival geneticist from attacking him to get the code, which he’s stored on a flash drive in his pocket. Meanwhile, Karesh Harrison, a former Royal Marine Commando, accompanies a man named Aaron Bashir to the United States to deliver an ancient book. Mercenaries and assassins, all tied to a millennia-old prophecy, enter the mix, though only a few fully understand what’s going on. The narrative thrives on ambiguity. Though the code on Alex’s flash drive provides some illumination, the story is largely puzzling—even to many of the characters—until late in the story. Still, it’s engrossing throughout. The author introduces riveting characters like the capable and resilient Gabby and Alex, whose vivid dreams feature silhouetted creatures and bloody assaults. Tension builds as killers strike and the prophesied “greatest evil ever to walk the earth” gradually comes to light. Not all of the groups involved are after the same thing, a fact that ignites a handful of exhilarating action sequences featuring explosions, bullets zipping past, and flying bodies. This novel reads like a series opener, leaving myriad questions unanswered, from certain characters’ true identities to mysterious objects that remain enigmas.
This briskly paced story boasts intrigue, suspense, and series potential.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2023
ISBN: 9798218100742
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Roberts revisits a favorite theme: The power of community can defeat a great evil.
After escaping from a serial killer, a woman tries to reclaim her life.
After a childhood as an Army brat, Morgan Albright is determined to put down roots. She bought a small house in the perfect neighborhood outside of Baltimore, living with a friend and working two jobs to make ends meet. Morgan’s life is happy and fulfilling, and she is making progress on her financial and career goals. Her perfect world is shattered when someone breaks into her home and murders her roommate. At first, the police assume it was a random act of violence, but after discovering the killer stole Morgan’s identity and her entire savings, they realize the crime fits the profile of a serial killer named Gavin Rozwell. The police inform Morgan that her roommate was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; she was the real intended target. Morgan’s grief, coupled with the financial devastation from the identity theft, leaves her no choice but to return home to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother. Morgan reconnects with her family and rebuilds her life, including landing the perfect job and falling in love. The police and FBI pursue Gavin, who continues to stalk and kill women, each time leaving a reminder at the crime scene that shows he’s fixated on Morgan as the one who got away. Roberts shows Gavin’s slow descent into obsession and madness as the inverse of Morgan’s healing journey back to herself and her community. The novel highlights Morgan’s preparations for the inevitable final countdown with Gavin, but the lack of immediacy and urgency of the threat makes for a subdued, restrained thriller.
Roberts revisits a favorite theme: The power of community can defeat a great evil.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284112
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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