A riveting, energetic sequel with lead characters worth rooting for.
A U.S. agent takes on a dangerous undercover assignment to dismantle a neo-Nazi group in this third installment of a thriller series.
Kolya Petrov suffers from PTSD after the torture he endured just a year ago. But he’s more than ready when the Executive Covert Agency hands him his latest mission. Kolya, a Russian Jewish immigrant, may even have a personal reason to take down German-based white supremacists. He heads overseas and cozies up to their apparent leader, Frederick Bauer, who’s got his sights set on the Jewish director of an organization outing local Nazis. Kolya, struggling to maintain his covert identity, also faces an unforeseen threat. Bauer’s girlfriend, Lisette Vogel, has her own lethal agenda. She’s secretly hunting the wolf-tattooed neo-Nazi who killed her beloved father. She’s dispatched murderous men along the way, and as she suspects Kolya to be another killer Nazi, he may soon wind up on her hit list. But with Bauer suspecting a traitor to the “cause,” neither Kolya nor Lisette is safe, and both are determined to expose the diabolical plan Bauer’s group has brewing in Manning’s (Nerve Attack, 2021, etc.) tale in which the action rarely lets up. Kolya and Lisette face relentless peril, as naturally distrustful Bauer questions any number of things they do or say. While the neo-Nazis are indisputable villains, other characters have layered personalities; Lisette has flashes of guilt, even when knocking off killers, and Kolya’s cherished fiancee takes up residence in his mind. The author sets an impressive pace, driving the plot forward while slyly reminding readers of Kolya’s rotating identities and dropping subtle nods to earlier series events. In the end, this narrative makes it clear that Nazis, not Germans, are evil. Certain members of that hateful batch, for one, hail from other countries, while Manning showcases the beauty of Germany by often lingering on its historically rich cities and towns.
A riveting, energetic sequel with lead characters worth rooting for.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64599-404-6
Page Count: 366
Publisher: Encircle Publications, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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