A fearfully ambitious muddle whose most lucid feature is the appended Reading Group Guide.
The latest mind-bending thriller from Silvis is “inspired by true events”—though provoked might be more exact.
Sitting at a Chinese buffet minding his own business, the narrator, one Randall Silvis, is accosted by Thomas Kenneday, who, accurately categorizing Silvis as a veteran crime novelist, sits down unbidden, unfolds a wild story about potential connections between a triple murder and the discovery of an abandoned baby the following day, and invites Silvis to look into the case, or cases, himself. There doesn’t seem to be much mystery about the murders: Justin Cirillo, who broke into the home of Dianne Burchette with Jolene Mrozek and Eddie Hudack, has already confessed to shooting Dianne; her boyfriend, Barry Faye; and her 7-year-old daughter, Michelle Jordan. But nobody can identify Baby Doe or explain why she was abandoned in the woods near New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, with a concussion and a broken leg. Unable to find Kenneday after their initial meeting, Silvis approaches Eddie Hudack’s sister, Phoebe, a tenant in Dianne’s house, for the first of several maddeningly elliptical interviews about the facts behind Justin’s unexplained rampage. But his discoveries about the possible relationships among Justin, Dianne, and Baby Doe are rapidly overshadowed by a series of hints about the possible involvement of “men in black, Dan Aykroyd, UFOs, time-traveling cops, Hells Angels, child sexual abuse, disappearing police and prosecutors.” Dazzled and dazed by the otherworldly revelations visited on him, Silvis can only conclude that “a war is being fought on this planet for the minds and souls of all of us.”
A fearfully ambitious muddle whose most lucid feature is the appended Reading Group Guide.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72822-361-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More than any of his earlier cases, the comatose hero’s 26th adventure bears the hallmarks of a formal detective story.
Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett has been shot plenty of times before. But this time may be the last.
As Joe hovers between life and death in a Billings hospital, Box indicates that Dorn Peddy and James Dale O’Bryan are the two men who ambushed him, shot him, and left him for dead. But he doesn’t reveal who hired them or why. That’s left up to Joe’s three daughters: bird-abatement firm chief executive Sheridan, Bozeman private eye April, and University of Wyoming undergrad Lucy. Since the man who reported the incident to the Twelve Sleep County Sheriff’s Department has disappeared, the most that newly appointed Sheriff Steve Sondergard can do is to warn Sheridan and her sisters away from the case. But the fact that both the shooters and the witness seem to have come from one of exactly three places presents an obvious appeal to the younger Picketts, who plan to each visit one place and question the owners simultaneously before they can warn each other that anyone’s coming. The only problem is that all the possible suspects—billionaire Michael Thompson and his wife, Brandy, of the Double Diamond Ranch; ranchers John and Shelby Bucholz, of the Bucholz Cattle Company; and secretive sisters Lisa and Lainie McElwee, of McElwee Land and Cattle Ranch—act equally guilty. As Box unspools a series of flashbacks showing what Joe was up to in the weeks before the ambush, one question assumes paramount importance: Can Joe’s daughters identify which of them is behind the plot to murder their father before the hired gunmen visit the hospital and try again?
More than any of his earlier cases, the comatose hero’s 26th adventure bears the hallmarks of a formal detective story.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780593851098
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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