A captivating thriller both historically instructive and dramatically engrossing.
In 1944, some geologists operating in Venezuela happen upon a boat smuggling uranium from Germany to Argentina—a discovery that endangers their lives—in this novel.
When it becomes increasingly clear that the Allied forces will emerge victorious in World War II, Ernst Dussell, a German scientist working on the construction of an atomic bomb, makes plans to start his life anew. He intends to send secret uranium to Argentina and sell it to Juan Perón, the vice president of the country, who’s eager to use nuclear power to make his nation less vulnerable to the United States. Ernst hires lab technician Karl Strock to oversee the conveyance of the uranium, but the boat chartered, the Estrella Blanca, experiences mechanical difficulties and becomes stranded on the Orinoco River in Venezuela. Jerry MacDonald, an American geologist and head of an oil company operating in Maracaibo, finds the boat while conducting field research. Debbie Borowski, a member of Jerry’s team, notices that a Geiger counter shows that powerful radiation is emanating from the Estrella Blanca, news Jerry communicates to the American State Department. This fateful decision imperils him and his crew when the U.S. government decides to raid the boat and purloin its uranium, a dramatic turn of events depicted with electrifying suspense by Sears. The author’s research is remarkable—he authentically captures not only the flight of Nazis to neutral territory so common at the time, but also the terrestrial specifics of the Orinoco Delta with impressively vivid details. But Sears’ writing lacks a strong literary quality—in fact, it can sometimes be a bit banal. Here, Jerry realizes an FBI raid could be dangerous: “Things just got more complicated. Jerry thought.” In addition, a violent scene in the final act is anticlimactic and contrived. Nonetheless, this remains a riveting story, intelligently conceived and executed.
A captivating thriller both historically instructive and dramatically engrossing.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781954676381
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Indigo River Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable visit with an old character, but not one of Ware’s strongest.
Travel writer Lo Blacklock is back. Ten years after the events of The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016), she's attending the opening of a lavish Swiss hotel when, once again, a mystery intervenes.
A decade after she almost died on a luxury cruise and ended up exposing a murder plot, travel journalist Laura “Lo” Blacklock is trying to get back into the business post-Covid-19 and post–maternity leave. When she's invited to an exclusive hotel launch by the Leidmann Group on the shores of Switzerland’s gorgeous Lake Geneva, her supportive husband, Judah, insists that she should go, and her old boss, Rowan, says that if Lo can score an interview with the reclusive Marcus Leidmann, she’ll publish it in the Financial Times. Leaving Judah and the kids at home in New York, Lo is surprised by a last-minute upgrade to first class, which kicks off her trip in style. The hotel is appropriately awe-inspiring in both scenic location and effortless luxury, and Lo starts to put the memories of last trip’s trauma behind her, thinking that maybe she can just enjoy the experience this time. But then, at dinner, she's surprised to see at least three guests who were also on that original cruise, and when she finds a mysterious note in her room saying "Please come to suite 11 as soon as possible," she gets another shock. To quote William Faulkner, she realizes that “the past is never dead,” and soon Lo is careening across Europe on her way to England, only to find herself embroiled in another murder. The back half of the novel offers her the opportunity to continue her amateur sleuthing, and while she avoids much of the physical danger that plagued her on the cruise a decade ago, she is in very real legal trouble. This is the prolific Ware’s first sequel, and it's fun to spend time with Lo again, as she's both savvy and kindhearted. Unfortunately, the mystery is not as atmospheric and gripping as usual for Ware, though even a lesser Ruth Ware thriller is still worth reading.
An enjoyable visit with an old character, but not one of Ware’s strongest.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781668025628
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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
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