A fast-paced, riveting, if overly violent, mystery romp.
A has-been author goes on the lam to escape his angry publisher and greedy ex-wife in this thriller with supernatural elements.
Charlie McGinley has amassed a number of the trappings of a successful writer of detective novels in Los Angeles, including five bestsellers, a shabby apartment in a Polynesian-themed building, and a Corvette. He once had aspirations of becoming a serious writer, the evidence being Shaman Warrior, a manuscript about a Native American spiritual healer that has been rejected by dozens of publishers. On the other hand, his popular works, a series of hard-boiled novels featuring detective Johnny Dent, have come easily to Charlie until recently. Now, his life is falling apart. He is sick to death of Dent and can’t seem to produce the sixth installment of the series, even after two years of trying. His advance is spent; his publisher is bringing a lawsuit against him; and his ex-wife, Darlene Dawson, is ready to call the police to collect the back alimony he owes her. Besieged on all sides, Charlie jumps into his Corvette and flees. Along the way, he picks up Ben Fox, a Navajo who needs a lift to New Mexico. Ben seems both wise and enigmatic to Charlie as the two traverse the iconic Route 66 toward the Land of Enchantment. The sense of mystery deepens when Ben keels over dead, and Charlie finds a tag with instructions to take his body to a cryonics lab to be frozen. Charlie may have escaped his previous problems, but with Ben’s body strapped in the passenger seat, he drives right into the most mystifying and dangerous plot of his career. In this inventive tale, Ingraffia both captures and skewers the hard-edged vernacular of the detective thriller. Charlie’s swiftly paced adventures are both gripping and hilarious, although the satire is marred somewhat by scenes of horrific violence. The narrative skillfully presents a winning combination of droll cynicism, intriguing crime-solving, and wondrous magic. But important social issues, such as the disappearances and murders of Native Americans and the efforts of organized crime to take over tribal casinos, are less well developed.
A fast-paced, riveting, if overly violent, mystery romp.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 161
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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