Exhilarating and suspenseful, this novel is hard to put down and sure to please.
In DePaul’s thriller, a former assassin intends to leave everything behind—until she meets the man of her dreams.
Sandra Walsh was a highly skilled sniper for the mercenary agency SweetBriar Group until one fatal day changed everything. She and her team were supposed to save a group of victims from sex slavery, but in one wrong move, Sandra accidentally shot a young girl. There’s no way she can continue after that, so she faked her death and left everything behind (“A dead operative who assassinates a victim doesn’t get a home. She gets a life on the run. She had to squash the urge to give her conscience the finger”). Her team of Talon, Romeo, Cappy, and Magician are like family, but she has no choice. She begins a new life as an operations manager at the Gradwick Adventure Center, an arcade and games facility in Ridge Creek, North Carolina, and for a while everything seems to be all right. Her boss is Casper Grady, a handsome and muscular former Marine who now spends his time overseeing a safe place for families to enjoy some entertainment. Sparks fly, and there’s a definite romantic and physical tension between Sandra and Grady, but she can’t risk getting close to anyone. Unfortunately, her past catches up to her and she has to go on the run; Carlos, the head of the cartel responsible for the sex slavery Sandra was trying to stop, is seething to get revenge against the sniper who put a huge dent in his operation. Another threat is Victor, the head of SBG, who wants to take Sandra out now that she’s gone rogue and threatened the whole agency. Grady refuses to leave her unprotected and joins her, leaving his own world behind. The author has crafted an excellent suspense thriller, with many unpredictable twists and turns, and created great antagonists in Victor and Carlos, keeping the stakes high. Sandra proves herself to be a lethal adversary as well as a relatable woman who wants romance with her handsome boss. Grady is initially difficult to find appealing, but he eventually proves himself to be a worthy partner to her. Overall, this is a fun and valuable addition to any thriller fan’s bookshelf.
Exhilarating and suspenseful, this novel is hard to put down and sure to please.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 978-1959324010
Page Count: 504
Publisher: Northfair Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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