An occasionally convoluted story that delivers a surprising conclusion.
A debut crime novel chronicling the making of a serial killer.
In the late 1970s, Evie Eastway, a bartender and aspiring writer, is struggling in New York City until she survives an assault on 44th Street. During the ordeal, her attacker is accidentally shot dead with his own gun, which Evie keeps. This sets her on a path to fame as an anonymous vigilante killer. When she finds out that her assailant was a known criminal, she feels compelled to replicate her feeling of triumph again by tracking down and murdering other wrongdoers, including a racist skinhead, a drug dealer, and a pension swindler. She eventually becomes known as the “Houdini Killer” for her quick escapes from her crime scenes, and her murders result in press headlines and street art that call her nothing less than a hero. She also falls in love at the same time she’s gaining notoriety—and the object of her affection just happens to be a New York City cop who gets put in charge of the Houdini Killer investigation. The narrative effectively adds other complexities, including people close to Evie who find out what she’s doing, which, in turn, affect her motivations. Is it okay to kill innocent people, she asks herself, to cover up justified killings? Indeed, Moss’ strongest work in this novel comes when Evie’s increasingly sloppy work ensnares and endangers innocent people; the antihero protagonist ultimately claims to be searching for a happy ending, but she’s never fully able to commit to stopping. Some moments, such as Evie’s personal serial-killer rules (“Number one was a no-brainer; always wear sensible shoes”) feel clichéd. However, Moss shines when she focuses on the conflicts that a murderer faces when plans go awry, and the story as a whole comes together well at the end.
An occasionally convoluted story that delivers a surprising conclusion.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64921-996-1
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Squidhat Records
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
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
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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