Another gripping thriller from a writer who continues to impress.
The world’s richest people are being systematically murdered, and an anarchist movement may—or may not—be to blame in this thriller sequel.
In Heary’s The Concordat (2018), Enzo Rossi, the head of the Vatican’s police force, was in Moscow on a mission to track down a rogue historical document. Now Rossi is trying to take things a little easier. He’s accepted a post as a visiting academic at the University of Cambridge in England and is enjoying the serenity of academic life, but the peace, inevitably, doesn’t last for long. He takes time out to join a pheasant-shooting party at the estate of a local aristocrat, but his impressive display of marksmanship is quickly overshadowed by that of a sniper, who murders a brash Russian new-money billionaire. The killer escapes, but he leaves behind “his calling card—a circle-A monogram and #27 spray painted in red,” the dead billionaire’s ranking on the Forbes “Rich List.” It’s just the latest in a series of big-money assassinations. Rossi is drawn into the investigation and finds himself reunited with CIA agent Cathy Doherty, who’s gone undercover as a student in order to infiltrate the inner circle of the Cambridge Experientialists, a secret society that’s suspected in the anti-capitalist killing spree. When Rossi’s and Doherty’s friends, colleagues, and suspects start dying at an alarming rate, though, it begins to look like they may be following a false trail. Although The Concordat delved deeply into the past, this series installment stays more grounded in the present. The tone is a little different in this sequel, as well—less Robert Harris and more John Buchan—although Heary’s writing is, again, first rate, blending suspense, romantic tension, and dry humor in a complex and absorbing narrative. The sinister villains’ efforts to destabilize the world order, and particularly the European Union, are front and center, but the overall plot is quite a tangle, and it will require a lot of patience on the reader’s part. The ethics of the characters are sometimes questionable, as well, as Rossi himself acknowledges.
Another gripping thriller from a writer who continues to impress.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.
The 25th novel featuring Silva’s legendary protagonist.
During his intersecting careers as art restorer and Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon has tangled with Russian gangsters and al-Qaida terrorists. He has become well-acquainted with operatives in multiple security agencies and befriended a paid assassin. He has busted art thieves and created passable forgeries by Renaissance masters and abstract Modernists. This latest installment centers around his relationship with the pope and a newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci that has gone missing from the Vatican. Silva’s novels tend to fall into two categories: books that reflect the politics of the day and books that don’t. His latest is one of the latter, which could be a treat for readers looking for escape, but it falls flat for a variety of reasons. Luxury has always been part of Gabriel Allon’s universe. It used to be an aspect of tradecraft, though. Allon would be wearing a very expensive suit and driving a very expensive car because he was posing as a client at a Swiss bank. Here, his wife is hosting a catered lunch for 150 of their daughter’s classmates in their apartment overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. What once felt like a scintillating peek into the world of the obscenely wealthy now just feels…kind of obscene. Similarly, Allon goes chasing after a missing painting as a civilian—he retired from Mossad in Portrait of an Unknown Woman (2022)—the same way another man his age might buy a speedboat or get hair plugs. As the story progresses, the stakes are raised, but it’s hard to forget that Allon is now a middle-aged man pursuing a dangerous hobby, rather than a spymaster leading his intrepid team to prevent a disaster that will disrupt the global order.
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063384217
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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