A twisty and often riveting thriller.
A real estate appraiser is forced to evaluate her own life in Priamos’ dark thriller.
Catia “Tia” Drakos was formerly a handwriting analyst for California police departments, but she walked away from the profession because it made her too anxious. Now she’s a real estate appraiser to the rich and powerful in the Hollywood area. One recent client is Elise Davis, a friend from childhood who’s the daughter of famed actor Carson Davis. Elise goes missing shortly after Tia appraises her family’s mansion; shortly afterward, Tia receives the first in a series of mysterious notes. The first reads “He’s here early,” which may refer to her older fiance, Hugh, or to someone else entirely. Soon, Los Angeles police detective Antonio Ramirez, who’s investigating Elise’s disappearance, contacts her as a person of interest. Tia already has plenty of drama in her personal life: She’s been divorced less than a year from history professor Kyle Wilkins over the question of having children, and he’s in a relationship with unstable grad student Becca, who has a restraining order against her from a previous flame. As the notes that Tia receives get more threatening and escalate into assaults, she must appraise those around her and figure out who isn’t whom they seem to be. Over the course of this mystery novel, Priamos successfully develops a protagonist who has engaging flaws. It’s also intriguingly unclear if Elise's abduction is part of a revenge plot that’s targeting Elise, Tia, or a monied old-Hollywood family. In addition, Elise’s family offers up several viable suspects, including Carson’s soon-to-be-ex third wife as well as Elise’s estranged brother and her own prickly, pregnant spouse. Oddly, though, Tia never asks the key question of who would want her to be personally involved in solving the mystery. Still, this is an engrossing, layered volume despite the fact that Tia seems somewhat distracted at times by her own journey of self-discovery.
A twisty and often riveting thriller.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 979-8985430912
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Power Punch Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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