With incredibly high stakes and memorable characters, the slow start doesn’t hamper this riveting tale.
A supernatural tale with realistic characters and a historical twist readers won’t see coming.
DiGiacomo’s debut novel is an ambitious affair. Though the bulk of the story takes place in present-day America, the tale weaves its way through a historical context that dates back to the Revolutionary War. It begins with two seemingly unrelated flashbacks: one to a supernatural event that took place during the American Revolution; and the other, a flashback to modern-day America, six weeks before the present day, where animal activists have interrupted a secretive chemical delivery of enriched plutonium-239. Once the story begins in earnest, readers meet everyman Al Campo, who at first doesn’t seem like he’s connected to the events. But as plot threads begin to intertwine, Campo uncovers a conspiracy that threatens not just him, but the entire world. In addition to offering a thrilling mystery, DiGiacomo’s novel deftly laces in romance. Though described as a beautiful woman, Domeni is, by DiGiacomo’s design, not an archetypal damsel in distress. More so than Campo, she’s a delight to follow, and readers will catch on quickly that there’s more to her than meets the eye. Despite these wonderfully developed characters, the book feels a bit overextended, especially since it takes a while for the plot to set its wheels in motion. However, readers who can stick it out through the first 100 pages or so will be treated to a thrilling story complete with supernatural elements, historical ties and plenty of exhilarating moments that will keep pages turning. The novel may not tackle hard issues, but its winding plot and exhilarating conclusion make for a great summer read.
With incredibly high stakes and memorable characters, the slow start doesn’t hamper this riveting tale.Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482508765
Page Count: 422
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.
Dexter meets Killing Eve in Wallace’s dark comic thriller debut.
While accepting condolences following her father’s funeral, 30-something narrator Claire receives an email saying that one of her paintings is a finalist for a prize. But her joy is short-circuited the next morning when she learns in a second apologetic note that the initial email had been sent to the wrong Claire. The sender, Lucas Kane, is “terribly, terribly sorry” for his mistake. Claire, torn between her anger and suicidal thoughts, has doubts about his sincerity and stalks him to a London pub, where his fate is sealed: “I stare at Lucas Kane in real life, and within moments I know. He doesn’t look sorry.” She dispatches and buries Lucas in her back garden, but this crime does not go unnoticed. Proud of her meticulous standards as a serial killer, Claire wonders if her grief for her father is making her reckless as she seeks to identify the blackmailer among the members of her weekly bereavement support group. The female serial killer as antihero is a growing subgenre (see Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer, 2018), and Wallace’s sociopathic protagonist is a mordantly amusing addition; the tool she uses to interact with ordinary people while hiding her homicidal nature is especially sardonic: “Whenever I’m unsure of how I’m expected to respond, I use a cliché. Even if I’m not sure what it means, even if I use it incorrectly, no one ever seems to mind.” The well-written storyline tackles some tough subjects—dementia, elder abuse, and parental cruelty—but the convoluted plot starts to drag at the halfway point. Given the lack of empathy in Claire’s narration, most of the characters come across as not very likable, and the reader tires of her sneering contempt.
Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780143136170
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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