A sometimes-slow thriller best suited for fans already familiar with the series.
A mysterious murder serves as the backdrop for Cover’s third installment in The Sessions University thriller series.
Following the events of the previous series installments, Thomas Simpson, who two years ago was “a nobody associate professor of communications at Sessions, dealing only with [his] courses to ever more ill-prepared and clueless undergraduates” is now the executive director of the philanthropic Mark Berger Foundation. With him is his best friend Zoltan Vastag, a Hungarian who is also a leading cancer researcher at the medical center, and Mark Berger, an alumnus billionaire with an amusing Boston accent (“I like that idea. Might even be a nice naming opportunity in honah of my parents”) who is now chair of the board of trustees at Sessions. After a dangerous few years involving covered-up murders, international espionage, and being under the terrifying watch of U.S. Special Operations, the three men are ready for their lives to return to normal. But just as things seem to be settling down, the acting president of the university is murdered while making his way home on campus. The mysterious killer? An untraceable drone with an equally untraceable 3D-printed gun. Now it’s up to Thomas, Zoltan, and Mark to figure out who’s behind the murder, all while trying to keep themselves safe in the process. Though marketed as a standalone novel, new readers might be confused by the expansive backstory needed to clarify the plot. In the same vein, a big cast of side characters can be hard to keep track of for those unfamiliar with the series. While Cover’s use of a killer drone as a looming terror over the campus is fun and unique, the more thrilling aspects of the novel are overshadowed by an excess of dialogue-heavy scenes that occasionally make the pacing feel sluggish.
A sometimes-slow thriller best suited for fans already familiar with the series.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Epigraph Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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