A well-paced noirish read that focuses on the fragile human currents that run beneath acts of murderous violence.
An urban community is traumatized by murder in this psychological thriller from Fisher.
The novel opens with the chilling inner thoughts of a person who has nursed a private fury for years and finally acts on it, murdering a woman named Nancy Scott in Philadelphia’s Valley Green Park. From this disturbing confession, the book shifts into a rotating structure told through sharply differentiated first-person voices. Kevin Mather, still dealing with the traumatic fallout from his entanglement with serial killer Olivia in the previous book in this series, is pulled into the investigation through his friendship with Leonard Welsh, now head of Homicide. Scott’s death, observed by chance through a pair of bird-watching binoculars, draws in Anna Cohen, an elderly witness whose quiet, perceptive presence becomes one of the book’s most human anchors. Nancy’s twin sister, Linda, arrives in a haze of shock and grief, her emotional unraveling rendered with direct, unadorned detail that keeps the tension grounded in grief and loss rather than spectacle. The killer’s chapters run parallel to these threads, offering a frightening view of someone who commits violent crimes for reasons of personal catharsis. The momentum comes from Fisher's dive into shifting interior monologues. Fisher uses the multi-POV format to build psychological density rather than simply relay plot mechanics, allowing readers to sit inside competing moral and emotional worlds. Kevin’s introspective, often self-critical narration contrasts sharply with Leonard’s blunt pragmatism, while Anna’s voice is tender and quietly courageous. Pacing is brisk in the early chapters, driven by tight scene transitions and a constant rotation of perspectives; later sections widen the lens as new victims emerge and suspicions build. The book’s sense of place, especially the wooded trails and urban edges of Philadelphia, is rendered in careful strokes that support the procedural thread without slowing the narrative. Throughout, Fisher favors a plainspoken style that keeps tension high and avoids melodrama. The novel culminates in the ultimate unmasking of a killer— a tense buildup that relies not on random twists but on steadily accumulating character insight.
A well-paced noirish read that focuses on the fragile human currents that run beneath acts of murderous violence.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9798901740255
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Feeney improves on her debut with a taut suspense plot, many gleeful twists and turns, and suspects galore.
A news presenter and a police detective are brought together by murders in the British village where they both grew up.
There is precious little that can be revealed about the plot of Feeney’s third novel without spoilers, as the author has woven surprises and plot twists and suspicious linkages into nearly every one of her brief, first-person chapters, written in three alternating narrative voices. “Hers” is Anna Andrews, a wannabe anchor on a BBC news program whose lucky break comes when the body of one of her school friends is found brutally murdered in their hometown, a woodsy little spot called Blackdown. “His” is DCI Jack Harper, head of the Major Crime Team in Blackdown, where major crimes were rather few until now. The third is unnamed but clearly the killer’s. Happily, none of the three is an unreliable narrator—good thing because plenty of people are sick of that—but none is exactly 100% forthcoming either. Which only makes sense, because you can't have reveals without secrets. In a small town like Blackdown, everybody knows everybody, so it’s not too surprising that Anna and Jack have a tragic past or that each has connections to all the victims and suspects while not being totally free from suspicion themselves. Who is that sneaky third narrator? On the way to figuring that out, expect high school mean girls, teen lesbian action, mutilated corpses, nasty things happening to kittens, and—as seems de rigueur in British thrillers—plenty of drinking and wisecracks, sometimes in tandem. “Sadly, my sister has the same taste in wine as she does in men; too cheap, too young, and headache-inducing.”
Feeney improves on her debut with a taut suspense plot, many gleeful twists and turns, and suspects galore.Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26608-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK TO SCREEN
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