A riveting family drama set in the world of Mexico City’s cartels.
In Vasquez’s crime novel, a young woman is determined to escape her family’s criminal empire, but instead finds herself running it.
Sofia De Luna has always known that her family’s wealth and prestige didn’t come from the produce business her late mother owned, but she’s horrified when she learns that her father is putting her in control of the family’s extensive drug trafficking. When her mother was murdered 12 years ago, Sofia, then in her midteens, vowed to separate herself from them forever, and she eventually left Mexico City far behind for a new life in London. For the past eight years, she’s been far away from the cartels and the violence—and far from Andres Herrera, her first love, who broke her heart. Now she’s forced to contend with her brothers (who can’t forgive her for abandoning them), with family members who’d like to strip her of her newfound power, and with Andres, who may also be responsible for her mother’s murder. Vasquez’s page-turner is both an emotional family drama and a tense thriller. Sofia is a sympathetic protagonist, and readers will hope that she can use her family’s power for good. The author deftly paints a picture of a narco-state that’s intertwined with drug cartels who terrorize the people but also provide a measure of economic stability. Vasquez also offers vibrant descriptions of Mexican history and culture: “This complex, beautiful land of mountains and beaches and jungles and deserts had more to offer the world than drugs and violence.” But the novel also refuses to allow readers any illusions about how easy Sofia’s dreams for her country would be to accomplish. Indeed, a feeling of heartbreaking futility permeates the novel as Sofia navigates national and family politics. Flashbacks to Sofia’s mother’s early life enrich the story with the beginnings of the family’s empire and also show how small choices can echo for generations. A strong supporting cast adds depth, and gripping moments of violence and romance will leave readers wanting more.
A riveting family drama set in the world of Mexico City’s cartels.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9781684632787
Page Count: 376
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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