This slim novel invites us to question the narratives we know and has a rewarding payoff, but is slow-moving.
An Israeli expatriate in Los Angeles reconnects with his aunt-by-marriage and returns to Israel, where secrets from the past resurface.
In a strong translation by Kahn-Hoffmann, Liebrecht portrays the connection between a young Micha and Adella, whom he meets for the first time when he's 9 years old and she's 18 and engaged to his favorite uncle. Micha comes from a big, opinionated Iranian Jewish family that looks down on Adella but he befriends her, and when the wedding plans are made, he is chosen to be her bridesman. In fluid prose, Liebrecht describes how Micha gets to know Adella, becomes fascinated with her, and participates in her wedding. As a young teenager, he relocates to Los Angeles with his mother, and then the chronology jumps ahead; Micha is an adult, working as a ghostwriter in Los Angeles, and Adella has reached out after many years to ask him to come to Israel for an unknown reason. Does she want him to ghostwrite her memoir? And who is this new woman? Adella has become Adel, and there is no trace of the timid, marginalized girl he remembers from his childhood. What ensues is a revelation of long-hidden secrets. Micha is in the business of ghostwriting, of crafting narratives from what he is told is true. But Adel's revelations make Micha revise his own memories of her and of his childhood, thus reminding readers to reexamine the stories we tell. The prose is clean and smooth, and Micha's narration transitions seamlessly from the voice of a young boy to the voice of an adult. Quietly intelligent and carefully written and translated, the novel encourages us to consider the relationship between truth and stories. Unfortunately, the narrative drags a little, and the story is not very compelling until its final shocking twist—which almost, but not quite, makes the rest worthwhile.
This slim novel invites us to question the narratives we know and has a rewarding payoff, but is slow-moving.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781609459864
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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