The protagonist’s second run-in with conspiracy results in more exhilaration; readers will surely welcome a third.
Attorney Mike Marchetti returns to investigate unexplained deaths on a Hawaiian island while an epidemic plagues the U.S. mainland in Holcroft’s (Patriot’s Blood, 2014) latest thriller.
Marchetti’s romantic Kauai getaway with reporter girlfriend Vicki Steele is wrecked when someone attacks the couple. Vicki needs to recuperate, and Marchetti, with his Dallas law partner buying him out, spends his free time tracking down the assailant—possibly related to terrorists whose plans the attorney had previously thwarted. He likewise agrees to help Vicki’s friend Janine Nichols, one of several locals wanting answers regarding suspicious deaths, starting with Janine’s close friend reporter Brad Vaughn, a “super-cautious” driver killed in a car accident. Reteaming with retired detective/private eye Tom Shannon, Marchetti zeroes in on one of Brad’s stories: a false-flag operation. At the same time, deaths in various mainland states, all symptomatically identical, seem to confirm a viral outbreak. As the CDC searches for Ground Zero, some in the White House surmise that the virus is an orchestrated strike against the U.S. Villains, meanwhile, are devising something even more treacherous, set for an upcoming event in Honolulu, which may intersect with Marchetti and Tom’s investigation. The two men make headway on at least one of the cases, inadvertently putting themselves in the path of a very dangerous individual who excels at keeping things quiet via abductions or murder. Holcroft, as in his preceding novel, builds a credible back story for his protagonist. Marchetti, for example, though still only a lawyer, is already invested—find the person(s) who attacked him and Vicki —before Janine asks for a favor. There’s ample coverage for the subplots, including agencies discussing measures to prevent the virus spreading further and retaliation against the culprits they believe are responsible. Most but not all of the baddies are known, and despite making a few avoidable mistakes (for example, mapping out the nefarious plan for a hostage), their scheme is both methodical and brilliant. Marchetti, a former Marine, once again winds up immersed in action before it’s over, while the ending takes a surprising turn and closes with a lingering uneasiness.
The protagonist’s second run-in with conspiracy results in more exhilaration; readers will surely welcome a third.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5370-5858-0
Page Count: 366
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2016
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
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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