by Patricia Clark ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A well-crafted thriller that manages to be both timely and timeless.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
GET IT
In the fourth book of the Cleary Case Files series, Clark (Third Breath, 2014, etc.) brings back FBI Special Agent Shawn Cleary in a gripping blend of terrorism, serial killers, and even a little romance.
Shawn’s life is in turmoil when this thriller opens. Mitchell Gant is about to go on trial for multiple murders, but his twin brother, Trevor, Shawn’s former partner, is still on the loose. He’s threatened everyone Shawn cares about, so she can’t relax yet: “Over the last six weeks, the feeling never abated, and she believed Trevor Gant lurked in the vicinity, ready to execute his next deadly assault.” Indeed, Trevor’s threat caused Shawn to separate from Nick, the man she loves, in order to keep him safe. To make matters worse, a terrorist cell has weaponized the Ebola virus and is planning to disperse it somewhere in a transportation system. Trevor manages to rig the trial and Mitchell gets off. Later, Shawn goes to arrest Mitchell for another set of murders and a firefight unexpectedly breaks out. This climactic incident leaves Trevor in an even worse frame of mind, but because he’s injured, he’s forced to flee. Shawn is badly hurt herself, but her pursuit of the terrorists brings her and Trevor together one more time. Clark’s greatest gift to readers is her breakneck pacing, which keeps the narrative flying along. Still, it zigs and zags along the way, taking unexpected turns, including the revelation of the terrorists’ ultimate choice of target. She doesn’t give short shrift to characterization, though, especially of Shawn, who cares deeply for those she loves while also being a tough agent near the top of her field. One quibble is that there isn’t much room for more than cameos of some people from previous volumes, including Sgt. Ed Pulaski and the vigilante group Patronus, but there’s still plenty of action and memorable characters to go around. The only real problem is that Clark ties up so many loose ends from earlier books that one wonders what’s left for Shawn to tackle next.
A well-crafted thriller that manages to be both timely and timeless.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
by Robinne Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.
When Solène Marchand takes her 12-year-old daughter to a concert by the hottest boy band on the planet, she doesn't expect to fall in love with one of the singers.
Middle-aged art gallery owner Solène hasn’t dated since her divorce, but when her ex-husband buys their daughter and a group of her friends tickets to Vegas and a backstage concert experience, then backs out at the last minute, she steps in as escort. The five guys in the wildly popular English boy band August Moon appeal to women of all ages, but Hayes, the brains behind the group’s success, flirts with Solène at the concert meet and greet, invites them to a party after the show, then pursues her once she gets back to Los Angeles. He’s only 20 and he’s incredibly famous; his attention is flattering and heady. The two fall into an affair that’s supposed to be light and easy, but before long they can’t ignore their intense emotional attachment. Solène is hesitant to tell her daughter, but when she procrastinates, Isabelle learns about it through an online tabloid, which damages their relationship and leaves Solène open to censure from her ex. Then, once the affair goes viral, she experiences the darker side of Hayes’ fan base. What started out as a jaunty adventure turns into an emotionally fraught journey, and Solène must decide what she’s willing to risk for her happiness and what she won’t risk for her daughter’s. Actress Lee, who appeared in Fifty Shades Darker, debuts with a beautifully written novel that explores sex, love, romance, and fantasy in moving, insightful ways while also examining a woman’s struggle with aging and sexism, with a nod at the tension between celebrity and privacy.
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12590-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More by Kathy Reichs
BOOK REVIEW
by Kathy Reichs
BOOK REVIEW
by Kathy Reichs
BOOK REVIEW
by Kathy Reichs
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.