A compulsively readable mystery and character study.
In Bokat’s thriller, a troubled woman becomes entangled in a mystery during an island trip.
Natalie Greene, a 41-year-old food photographer, brings a lot of emotional baggage with her to the Cayman Islands, where her “powerhouse” stepsister, Isabel, a famous self-help guru, is the featured speaker at an upcoming Happiness Conference. Natalie’s stepfather recently died, and she’s haunted by a car crash nearly three decades ago that killed her mother. In addition, her husband has left her for another woman. The physical damage from the accident has healed except for the effects of a brain injury that erased much of her memory of the tragic incident. In the Caymans, she’s involved in another car accident at night; a strange man at the scene tells her and her stepsister that their vehicle hit a dog that then ran away. The next day, though, Natalie finds that her bumper, which had been spotted with blood, is now mysteriously clean. The mystery deepens when, upon her return to her home in Boston, she receives an anonymous email that reads, “You were lied to about that night. Have you asked your sister about the blood on the car? The guy who was there knows.” She soon meets Jeremy Sonnenberg, an investigative reporter writing a book about the happiness movement, and he helps her unravel a decades-old mystery. Bokat is an evocative wordsmith—as when she describes “sadness coating [Natalie] like oil”—and she has crafted a sympathetic heroine as her main character. Over the course of the novel, the author presents a psychologically nuanced portrait of a woman whose family regards her as “the sensitive one”; for example, when sparks fly between Natalie and Jeremy, she immediately wonders “if he was just another man who would disappoint her.” The book also reveals Natalie’s struggle not to be defined by her childhood trauma. Readers follow the protagonist as she works to untangle “a constrictor knot of lies” and wonders if she can have faith in people she’s always trusted.
A compulsively readable mystery and character study.Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64742-057-4
Page Count: 280
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
