The spy business doesn’t need the Cold War for excitement, and this nicely spun yarn proves it.
Trusted public servants plan to betray America.
A Russian informant dies by suicide before she can warn the U.S. of a plot about “something big” about to happen. Then a Russian spy named Mikhail Bortnik approaches the Justice Department offering to reveal “information of great interest” in exchange for guarantees of his safety and freedom. “Russian agents have infiltrated your storied FBI at a high level,” he tells Robert Cooper, who works for the DOJ’s National Security Division. Can a network of traitors truly be embedded in our government, undercover for years? Even the minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives might be a Russian agent. In a closely divided House, what if someone happens to die, and the minority becomes the majority? The issue turns urgent when a militant fascist general executes a lightning-fast coup d’etat in Moscow. General Obraztsov will make Putin look like a wimp as he gathers forces to invade Finland and perhaps use tactical nukes to win its ultimate prize, all of Eastern Europe. As Cooper learns, this is part of Operation Viper, a Russian plot involving at least five traitors to the U.S. With the success of that plot, a weakened American government will let the Russkies do their nefarious deeds. Russia has code-named its moles Bear, Alligator, Penguin, Walrus, and Lion, and Cooper and his team had better stop them before it’s too late. Coop, as President Clayton calls him, is a widower whose love life doesn’t extend to more than a kiss on the cheek from his friend Catherine. High-level murders using the Novichok poison are central to this well-constructed plot, with a political back-stabbing thread that deserves dishonorable mention. Characters are believable if not memorable, and the tension culminates in a solid, satisfying finish. Author McCaw is known for his Koa Kāne Hawaiian mysteries, and this is his first geopolitical spy thriller.
The spy business doesn’t need the Cold War for excitement, and this nicely spun yarn proves it.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781324123996
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
