A darkly lyrical crime thriller with a riveting plot that constantly challenges reader expectations.
Chaney’s latest crime thriller follows a struggling freelance writer who gets more than he bargains for while covering a seemingly benign poetry festival.
Claude Murphy works for a Boston-based magazine that features “an eclectic mix of artistic oddments.” His morally ambiguous boss, Ambrose Bunt, wants Murph to write an article centered on two featured poets, Ian MacGregor and Georges Zazou. After arriving in Quebec City, Murph sets out to locate the two poets but soon finds himself in the middle of a riot sweeping through the city. Buildings are set on fire, and one of the poets (Zazou) is found stabbed to death: “Murph wondered why the newsreader hadn’t mentioned the Quebecois sovereigntists, with their push for an independent French Canada.” During the chaos, Murph meets numerous disreputable characters (including members of biker gangs, unethical entrepreneurs, and possible drug smugglers) and is ultimately detained by investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (“Mounties”) for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Murph is eventually freed from the detainment center and focuses on finding MacGregor—the “outlaw poet”—amid the violence crippling the city. The carnage he uncovers is deeply troubling, and it only raises more questions. The intriguing backdrop (including the Quebec Poetry Festival), impressively knotty plotline, and cast of memorable characters notwithstanding, Chaney’s unique descriptive style is what fuels this narrative: “The thin goatee on his chin had an amateurish effect, and his ears extended out from his head at right angles, [like] coffee cup handles”; “Rows of tombstones like crooked gray teeth [stretched] to the cloudy horizon.” Chaney ticks all the right boxes in this satisfying thriller, featuring nonstop action, complex plotlines, unadulterated brutality, a cast populated by shady characters, and more. The unexpected ending will keep readers thinking long after they’ve reached the final sentence.
A darkly lyrical crime thriller with a riveting plot that constantly challenges reader expectations.Pub Date: June 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781737540670
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
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
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