Likable lead characters fight to survive in this sharp, relentlessly edgy tale.
Armed men turn a Navy SEAL training exercise into a potentially lethal ambush in this thriller.
Archaeologist Dr. Audrey Kendrick braves an impending winter storm to reach her workplace, Olympic National Park in Washington state. She suspects looters have knocked out the park’s security cameras, and she’s worried that she can’t contact local tribal elder George Shaw. At the park, she runs into Xavier Rivera, one of the SEALs overseeing a planned simulation. The two had a one-night stand a few months back. Later, when she didn’t immediately accept Xavier’s training proposal, he went over her head and nearly cost Audrey her beloved job. Not surprisingly, Audrey hasn’t quite found the time to tell him she’s pregnant. And more pressing issues take precedence—Xavier guesses these “looters” have live ammunition, planning to attack the SEALs, who are armed with nothing more than paint pellets. Audrey and Xavier set their ill will aside as they scour the cold, slippery forest terrain for George and, with communications down, try to warn the SEALs. The two are up against an enemy who proves willing to kill. In this series opener, Grant masterfully establishes the cast while keeping suspense elevated. For example, Audrey is angry with Xavier (whose “dick move” got that proposal passed), but her foremost concern is George. She’s a brainy, levelheaded woman whose familiarity with the park gives her the skills to face gun-toting men. At the same time, the initially faceless baddies are all the more terrifying when bodies turn up and people disappear. But the novel’s true star is the author’s sublimely detailed wooded setting as a storm hits and night falls: Xavier and Audrey “wove between trees large and small, scrambling over downed trunks and crawling across rocks covered by a thick mossy carpet.” There are also spurts of action as well as romantic interludes and quieter moments that provide welcome insight into Xavier’s despicable act.
Likable lead characters fight to survive in this sharp, relentlessly edgy tale.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-944571-52-8
Page Count: 394
Publisher: Janus Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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