As Stone continues to bed top women, buy every piece of real estate in sight, and vanquish the competition with the wave of...
In this moments-after sequel to Foreign Affairs (2015), Stone Barrington acquires an English country estate, a brand-new enemy, and a corpse on his front lawn.
The corpse, the least consequential of these three developments, is that of Sir Richard Curtis, Stone’s new neighbor when he purchases Windward Hall from Sir Charles Bourne, a dying family friend of Stone’s sometime lover Dame Felicity Devonshire, head of MI6. Wilfred Burns, a hermit who’s left the Royal Marines, where he served with Sir Charles and Sir Richard, to live quietly on the Windward grounds, promptly confesses to the crime and hangs himself in his cell. Stone’s not satisfied with the confession, but it’s hard for him (or the reader) to keep his mind on it when he’s preoccupied with an orgy of consumer spending—not just the Windward estate, but a splendid pair of paintings, a new Bentley, and a wardrobe suitable for a country squire—and the attentions of his new lover, interior decorator Susan Blackburn. Not to mention Dr. Don Beverly Calhoun, who’s taken offense at Hell’s Bells, the smashing new fictional film directed by Stone’s son, Peter, because he thinks it’s a libelous portrait of the Chosen Few, the religious cult he leads. Calhoun threatens lawsuits but delivers stalkers with guns, all of them handily confiscated by Stone’s colleagues in New York and Connecticut law enforcement. When Calhoun makes an offer on Curtis House, the prospect of having him as a neighbor is more than Stone can abide, and the two declare open war on each other. Complications ensue, but they’re never all that complicated.
As Stone continues to bed top women, buy every piece of real estate in sight, and vanquish the competition with the wave of a hand, you can’t help but be struck by his increasing resemblance to Donald Trump. Or is that suggestion grounds for a libel suit?Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17468-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
A Gone Girl–esque confection with villainy and melodrama galore.
A wealthy woman with a handsome husband is preyed on by a ruthless con artist.
One day at the gym, Amber Patterson drops the magazine she’s reading between her exercise bike and that of the woman who happens to be beside her, Daphne Parrish. As she bends to pick it up, Daphne notices that it’s the publication of a cystic fibrosis foundation. What a coincidence—Daphne’s sister died of cystic fibrosis, and, why, so did Amber’s! “Slowing her pace, Amber wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. It took a lot of acting skills to cry about a sister who never existed.” Step one complete. “All she needed from Daphne was everything.” Everything, in this case, consists of Daphne’s outlandishly wealthy and blisteringly hot husband, Jackson, and all the real estate that comes with him; Daphne can definitely keep her two whiny brats. Amber hates children. But once she finds out that Daphne’s failure to give Jackson a male heir is the main source of tension in the marriage, she sees exactly how to make this work. Amber’s constant, spiteful inner monologue as she plays up to Daphne is the best thing about this book. For example, as Daphne talks about the many miseries her sister Julie went through before her death, Amber is thinking, “At least Julie had grown up in a nice house with money and parents who cared about her. Okay, she was sick and then she died. So what? A lot of people were sick. A lot of people died.…How about Amber and what she’d gone through?” Meanwhile, poor, stupid Daphne is so caught up in the joy of finally having a friend, she seems to be handing Jackson to her on a platter. Constantine’s debut novel is the work of two sisters in collaboration, and these ladies definitely know the formula.
A Gone Girl–esque confection with villainy and melodrama galore.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-266757-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Chavez delivers a fraught if flawed page-turner that attempts too many twists.
A good Samaritan incurs a psychopath’s wrath in this debut thriller.
Veterinarian Cassie Larkin is heading home after a 12-hour shift when someone darts in front of her car, causing her to dump her energy drink. As she pulls over to mop up the mess, her headlights illuminate a couple having a physical altercation. Cassie calls 911, but before help arrives, the man tosses the woman down an embankment. Ignoring the dispatcher’s instructions, Cassie exits the vehicle and intervenes, preventing the now-unconscious woman’s murder. With sirens wailing in the distance, the man warns Cassie: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.” He then scrambles back to the road and flees in Cassie’s van. Using mug shots, Cassie identifies the thief and would-be killer as Carver Sweet, who is wanted for poisoning his wife. The Santa Rosa police assure Cassie of her safety, but the next evening, her husband, Sam, vanishes while trick-or-treating with their 6-year-old daughter, Audrey. Hours later, he sends texts apologizing and confessing to an affair, but although it’s true that Sam and Cassie have been fighting, she suspects foul play—particularly given the previous night’s events. Cassie files a report with the cops, but they dismiss her concerns, leaving Cassie to investigate on her own. After a convoluted start, Chavez embarks on a paranoia-fueled thrill ride, escalating the stakes while exploiting readers’ darkest domestic fears. The far-fetched plot lacks cohesion and relies too heavily on coincidence to be fully satisfying, but the reader will be invested in learning the Larkin family’s fate through to the too-pat conclusion.
Chavez delivers a fraught if flawed page-turner that attempts too many twists.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-293617-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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