An action-packed but uneven thriller.
In this novel, a reclusive billionaire coordinates efforts to stop a terrorist plot to detonate a nuclear bomb in the United States.
Fatih Abdul-Kaliq claims to be the new leader of the Islamic State group and harbors great confidence that soon he will bring his avowed enemy, the U.S., to heel. He’s generously funded by Shamir Rahmani, a wealthy Sunni radical who invested his fortune in oil and peddling drugs throughout the Middle East. In an interview with Valentin Murat, a reporter from Kazakhstan, Fatih admits he has a plan in place but refuses to disclose the details. Murat is murdered shortly after the interview. Duke Chancellor, a billionaire and the head of the “super secret” Chancellor Organization, had recently been sent a message from Murat and laments his shocking death: “I must find out what Valentin had seen or done that got him killed. I must do at least that much. Was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Why, God? WHY? He was young, strong, intelligent, and full of promise...! WHY? The world needs more people like him—not fewer!” More information makes its way to Duke. Viktor Kovalenko, a colonel in the Russian army, notices an alarming discrepancy in an arsenal inventory—a nuclear weapon has disappeared. Duke comes to believe that the bomb will be used in a catastrophic attack on the Hoover Dam.
In a prefatory note to readers, Rettew announces his intention to “provoke at least entertaining awareness of, if not serious thought about human nature, life, culture, the current condition of the human species, and its future in the age of terrorism.” The author gets great credit for composing an eventful book—in the spirit of a propulsive, big-budget action film, every scene brings with it some moment of great consequence, intrigue, or violence. In addition, he clearly aims for a topical relevance. Rettew chillingly portrays the fragility of the world’s security and the indefatigable efforts of violent extremists who wish to destroy their enemies. But the ambitious novel’s plot is quite complex—it features prodigious subplots, a mix of fresh and familiar story elements, and a growing legion of characters. Unfortunately, many of the players are underdeveloped, including the valiant protagonist. Duke is a fictional type largely culled from spy thrillers, graphic novels, and superhero films. In addition, the author’s writing is sometimes a bit wordy and earnest. Readers are told that Duke is a man eager for “opportunities to use some of his vast wealth and influence to create a brighter future by seeking out and enhancing the good and eliminating or at least diminishing the evil, in both the individual and the social or institutional levels.”
An action-packed but uneven thriller.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
This thriller’s eerie mood is deflated by a plot with more holes than a Halloween sheet.
Could making a movie about the disappearance of five women from an island reawaken an evil presence there?
Five dresses hang from the topmost limbs of an oak on a remote island in a Vermont lake. That memorable image marks a mystery from a century ago, when five women believed to have been part of a commune vanished forever. As this novel opens, another group gathers on the island to make a movie based on that tale. Marin Keane, the narrator, is surprised but thrilled to find herself cast as one of the leads; she’s a struggling actor whose biggest part so far has been “Bridesmaid with Eczema” in a drug commercial, so playing Daisy Rue, whose haunting diary is the basis for the movie’s script, could be a career-making move. Ronan Peters, the writer-director, is talented and, Marin notes, hot. His reason for gathering the cast on the island is a kind of boot-camp rehearsal: They’ll spend a week living there, wearing period clothes, and managing without internet or phone service. Oh, and holding séances. What could go wrong? Marin quickly meets the other women in the cast: regal character actor Julianne Brown, cool and competent Heather Benchley, bratty former Disney star Susie Hutchinson, and, striking awe in all of them, Violet Wright, a much-awarded Meryl Streep-ish figure who will play the woman who brought the others to the island, which she owned. They get to work, but soon enough someone disappears. The book’s plot, like the movie’s script, largely follows Daisy’s journal, and since the reader is supplied with pages-long sections of that journal, there’s not much suspense about what will happen next. There are some effective set pieces, such as the group’s first séance. But in its last quarter, the plot collapses into a muddle of #MeToo vengeance, improbable secrets, and jarring character reveals that is, as Marin says, “the most Scooby-Doo thing I’ve ever heard.”
This thriller’s eerie mood is deflated by a plot with more holes than a Halloween sheet.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9798217044092
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
