A chilling, atmospheric crime procedural.
Cops in a small Canadian town try to solve the disappearance of a young man and catch a killer in this complex thriller.
Alexander (Peacefield, 2014, etc.) uses multiple perspectives in this story of a criminal on the loose, set against the backdrop of the vacant Skyward fairgrounds. It begins with a seemingly innocuous car chase; Detective Matt Sharp and his partner are on the trail of a man whom they caught drinking while driving. However, as the perspectives switch throughout the novel, it soon becomes evident that the driver (known only as “Pursued”) is guilty of far worse crimes, including murder. Meanwhile, local troublemaker Stan Hill finds himself the prime suspect when his young brother, Jarrod, goes missing; he’s the third such young boy, in fact, to disappear from the Skyward fairgrounds. Finally, Constable Sheila Warfield, who secretly has the power of psychic premonitions, gets involved when she senses evil and danger in the case of the aforementioned driver. As the suspense escalates and the true identity of Pursued is revealed to readers, the characters must figure out who the killer among them is before he strikes again. Alexander has a sharp eye for detail and a keen sense of place, which bring scenes at the deserted fairgrounds, once home to a “giant, twinkling freak-show with a big top,” to life for readers. Some of the overlapping perspectives make the narrative a little confusing to follow, especially at the beginning; there are enough people who have absent or disappointing fathers that it can be tricky to remember who’s who. But as the story races on, it becomes clearer who the culprit is and the suspense ramps up enough to keep readers hooked. A few of the players, such as Sharp’s wife, Ingrid, could have been fleshed out more, but generally, the narrators are well-developed and compelling—even if the passages narrated by Pursued are a little gruesome in their murderous detail. Overall, this is an unusual but well-crafted and smartly paced thriller.
A chilling, atmospheric crime procedural.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Now or Never Publishing Company
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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