Readers looking to sample the historical-conspiracies genre should begin with one of Berry’s earlier efforts.
Berry’s (The 14th Colony, 2016, etc.) latest brews another thriller from the formula that’s put him on the bestseller lists: modern bad guys discover a historic conspiracy that can make them rich and/or give them power to overturn the American republic.
Again it’s the Magellan Billet’s Cotton Malone, Navy pilot/spy/Copenhagen bookstore owner, into the fray, this time to find millions in gold secreted by the defeated Confederacy’s Knights of the Golden Circle. A map to its location is inscribed on a combination of five stones scattered around the country. It’s U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Weston who's sent Malone to recover the stones, with fellow agent (and Malone love interest) Cassiopeia Vitt earning a supporting role. Magellan Billet chief supporter President Danny Daniels has just left office, leaving Magellan chief Stephanie Nelle in limbo. At first, Stephanie’s unaware of Malone’s mission, but she’s soon to be mired in related issues after Daniels discovers another plot when his best friend, Sen. Alex Sherwood of Tennessee, dies. Because of suspicious behavior on the part of Sherwood’s widow, Diane, Daniels believes there's a plot to twist the Constitution’s Article I to give near-dictatorial powers to the Speaker of the House, Lucius Vance, "a self-confident, pompous ass." Formerly a bit player, Daniels' larger role creates interest, especially as Berry digs deeper into his character. Berry also gives cameos to Jesse James and Confederate VP Alexander Stephens while offering notes on James Smithson’s crypt and the history of the Smithsonian and setting up a former Smithsonian curator as a bad guy behind the mask of a stunning disguise. With the link between the gold and the political power grab ephemeral, this overly long novel tries too hard.
Readers looking to sample the historical-conspiracies genre should begin with one of Berry’s earlier efforts.Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-05625-2
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
This thriller is taut and fast-paced but lacks compelling protagonists.
Three siblings who have been out of touch for more than 20 years grapple with their unsettling childhoods, but when the youngest inherits the family home, all are drawn back together.
At the age of 25, Libby Jones learns she has inherited a large London house that was held in a trust left to her by her birthparents. When she visits the lawyer, she is shocked to find out that she was put up for adoption when she was 10 months old after her parents died in the house in an apparent suicide pact with an unidentified man and that she has an older brother and sister who were teenagers at the time of their parents' deaths and haven't been seen since. Meanwhile, in alternating narratives, we're introduced to Libby's sister, Lucy Lamb, who's on the verge of homelessness with her two children in the south of France, and her brother, Henry Lamb, who's attempting to recall the last few disturbing years with his parents during which they lost their wealth and were manipulated into letting friends move into their home. These friends included the controlling but charismatic David Thomsen, who moved his own wife and two children into the rooms upstairs. Henry also remembers his painful adolescent confusion as he became wildly infatuated with Phineas, David’s teenage son. Meanwhile, Libby connects with Miller Roe, the journalist who covered the story about her family, and the pair work together to find her brother and sister, determine what happened when she was an infant, and uncover who has recently been staying in the vacant house waiting for Libby to return. As Jewell (Watching You, 2018, etc.) moves back and forth from the past to the present, the narratives move swiftly toward convergence in her signature style, yet with the exception of Lucy’s story, little suspense is built up and the twists can’t quite make up for the lack of deep characters and emotionally weighty moments.
This thriller is taut and fast-paced but lacks compelling protagonists.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-9010-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
An engrossing and haunting psychological thriller.
A young newlywed's life is upended, and a picturesque neighborhood is shattered, when she is suspected of a savage murder.
At the beginning of a new year, Joey Mullen moves back to England from Ibiza with Alfie, her husband, whom she hastily married out of grief over the death of her mother. Jack, Joey’s older brother, invites the young couple to move into his painted Victorian house in the upscale Bristol neighborhood of Melville Heights so they can get on their feet financially and help with the baby that Jack and his wife, Rebecca, are expecting. Joey quickly becomes infatuated with their neighbor Tom Fitzwilliam, a new headmaster charged with improving the local school. Her crush only intensifies when Alfie suggests having a baby, and Joey begins to suspect her marriage was a mistake. Meanwhile, Tom’s wife, Nicola, struggles to fill her days and remains oblivious to their son, Freddie, who regularly spies on his neighbors and the village's teenage schoolgirls, taking their photos and keeping a detailed log of everyone's activities. This surveillance exacerbates the paranoia and mental illness of another neighbor, the mother of 16-year-old Jenna, one of Tom’s students. Jenna’s mother is convinced that she knows the Fitzwilliam family from a vacation incident years earlier (and that the family is now stalking her), but Jenna is more concerned that Tom may be having an inappropriate relationship with her best friend. After several months, tension in the neighborhood explodes, and Joey is suspected of a brutal murder. However, as the police gather evidence, it becomes clear how many secrets each family has been hiding. Jewell (Then She Was Gone, 2017, etc.) adeptly weaves together a complex array of characters in her latest thriller. The novel opens with the murder investigation and deftly maintains its intensity and brisk pace even as the story moves through different moments in time over the previous three months. Jewell’s use of third-person narration allows her to explore each family’s anxieties and sorrows, which ultimately makes this novel’s ending all the more unsettling.
An engrossing and haunting psychological thriller.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-9007-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
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