This curiously dark legal tale boasts an undaunted, complicated hero.
A lawyer’s involvement in a murder case leads her to a much bigger and potentially deadly secret in Ross’ thriller.
One small but crucial mistake in her last case continues to haunt junior associate James Woodsen. If she wants any chance of climbing the ranks at her Boston criminal defense firm, she needs a big win. That opportunity may lie with the firm’s newest client: Damien Blackhollow, a billionaire CEO who’s been arrested for his fiancée’s fatal stabbing. James looks at the evidence that points to Damien, wondering if he could be responsible for the ritualistic symbols carved into the victim’s body. James follows a lead to Salem’s Fall, a nearby town famous for its 17th-century witch trials. Her dubious client suddenly shows up, under the pretense of “helping," as James learns local legends of rituals and human sacrifices. Someone sends James anonymous messages to warn her off the case—but the warnings are closer to threats. Ross builds a solid narrative foundation by first establishing an absorbing legal case. Readers will also be engaged by James’ troubles at work, including a desperation to “make up” for her blunder, a scornful male colleague, and some dismissing her professionally simply because she’s pretty. While mystery awaits her in Salem’s Fall, the story offers only intermittent suspense—James rarely seems worried about a killer possibly targeting her. There’s nevertheless a lot to keep readers turning the pages, from James’ own history (her father is in jail for her mother’s murder) to the discovery of other homicides that likely tie together. Hints of romance are yet another draw, as James has connections with both the “objectively yumable” (her best friend’s words) Damien and her firm’s senior partner, Quinn Kensington, who treats her like the skilled lawyer she is. What’s really happening in Salem’s Fall may not surprise savvy mystery fans, but the memorable climax will certainly shock many.
This curiously dark legal tale boasts an undaunted, complicated hero.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9780988256897
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Ic13 Books
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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