An eloquent, unblinking cautionary tale of hidden puppeteers playing power games.
A sinister CIA mind-control project sends an aspiring financier on a downward spiral in Sanderson’s 1960s-set thriller.
Max Marchand is a man used to starring in his own movie, as his Ford Galaxie hardtop, and penchant for navy blue silk suits suggests. While still a long way from wealthy, Max feels confident that his chosen career—financing risky development projects—will punch his ticket quickly enough. “I also know how to grease the wheel,” he tells his dutiful wife, Erin—in other words, he offers bribes or whatever it takes to move a project along. Like any big city, Montreal has its official and unofficial rules. While Max is a master of both, he can’t shake his feelings about “the emptiness and futility of everything,” and depressive urges lead to thoughts of jumping to his death. Erin becomes gripped by gnawing doubts of her own: For Max, dealing with hardened gangsters may feel like just another day at the office, “but she suspected it was more like monkey business.” It’s an impression buttressed by Max’s increasingly manic spiral of cheating, drinking, and foolish stock market bets, which prompts Erin to demand a divorce. Enter Dr. Smiley, a smooth-talking yet sinister psychiatrist who instigates a regimen of electroconvulsive therapy, taped messages, and deep sleep—along with, unbeknownst to either, regular injections of LSD, just to see what will happen. This is because Max is being enlisted as an unwitting guinea pig for CIA mind-control experiments. The plot reads like weird 1930s pulp fiction, but, as the author explains in his preface, the story draws on the CIA’s notorious MKUltra project, which forms the novel’s all too real backdrop. Sanderson’s yarn stands as a righteous howl of outrage against the nefariousness of 1960s realpolitik and the collateral damage left in its wake; of the countless Maxes treated like so many chess pieces, callously cast aside once their usefulness had ended. The novel sounds a warning that feels all too urgent in light of current events.
An eloquent, unblinking cautionary tale of hidden puppeteers playing power games.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781038341556
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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