An exhilarating, sorrowful, and terrifying descent into retribution and possible madness.
A nurse, seeking revenge against those who have wronged her, may be slowly losing her mind in this psychological thriller.
Three years ago, Melissa Sweet’s devastating mistake at a Birmingham, Alabama, hospital cost a life and ended her nursing career. Now, she’s back in North Carolina, where her mother and her brother, Noah, live. Though she blames herself for the death that relentlessly haunts her, Melissa struggles to move on. She’s on the right track, in the arms of a softhearted, charming fiance and with a new job at a methadone clinic lined up. Then tragedy strikes, as masked men suddenly introduce violence into her world. In the days that follow, she’s an understandable wreck, likely suffering from PTSD, until Melissa happens upon one assailant’s identity. This ignites her thirst for vengeance, as she hunts down this man and his cohorts, armed with resilience and whatever weapon she can find. But as she metes out her punishment, Melissa may be cracking up—she’s hearing voices and losing her sense of reality. Her increasingly ruthless search, meanwhile, pushes her to a truth she surely doesn’t want to know. Schattel’s novel, which began as a screenplay, runs full tilt. The story moves from scene to scene with glorious transitions, from crashing thunder to voices that wake up a blacked-out Melissa. A convincing backstory (which includes Noah’s history of schizophrenia) along with stunning descriptive passages elevate this tale of apparent mental collapse. For example, the author equates Melissa’s unstable state to being underwater—“everything in dreamy half-motion and submerged by cold rolling waves of shock.” Some readers will guess later plot turns, though that doesn’t dampen their impact on this unforgettably grim tale. Notwithstanding brutal acts on display, the story isn’t as violent as some readers will anticipate. Melissa remains a sympathetic hero whose sincerity, regardless of what unfolds, never dissipates.
An exhilarating, sorrowful, and terrifying descent into retribution and possible madness.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68510-015-5
Page Count: 232
Publisher: JournalStone
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.
An author is targeted by a fan who just can’t let her go.
Arden Bowie has had plenty of tragedy in her life, but now she’s finally on top. After her parents died when she was a teenager, she moved from Brooklyn to Ohio to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She soon became part of their loving family and grew up to become a writer and bookseller. When her debut novel is published, she meets Dustin Dubecki at her first event. He showers her with praise, asks for writing advice, and wants to take her out for coffee. Arden tells herself he’s just a little awkward, but then he keeps showing up at her local events—and, even stranger, she’s sure she sees him lurking at her event in New York City. When he bursts into her apartment one night and assaults her, Arden’s calm life is shattered. Dustin gets a five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility; Arden spends most of that time rebuilding her sense of stability. Eventually, she moves to Oregon to start a new life where Dustin can never find her. But even though she has a beautiful home, a thriving career, a doting family, new friends, and even a potential love interest in a former cop named Gideon Riley, Arden can’t escape Dustin’s rage when his sentence is finally up. Roberts toggles between Arden’s point of view and Dustin’s, giving the reader occasional glimpses into his extremely twisted mindset. Although Arden’s attempts to escape Dustin are engrossing, the story stalls in the middle when far too many pages are dedicated to Arden purchasing and decorating a house. But the excitement picks back up when Dustin, a truly odious villain, re-enters the story. It’s also satisfying to see Arden grow into someone who refuses to be a victim, even as she deals with horrifying circumstances.
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250413581
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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