A provocative, timely, urgently told thrill ride sure to resonate with suspense and romance fans.
A threat to national security spurs an intuitive, quick-thinking Seattle couple into action to save the world.
Holt’s fourth novel seems ripped from contemporary headlines: It is set nearly a year after a shocking presidential election unmoors America. As racial unrest, political opportunism, and the infectious Covid-19 virus aggressively spread fear and panic across the country, in the eyes of 6-foot-4 ex–Army intelligence officer–turned–lawyer and blogger Pete, “civil society is tipping toward a permanent chasm.” Adding to this overwhelming state of affairs is the rumor that a Luddite-minded group called NuLud has engineered a subatomic particle with the potential to block electrons and permanently disable the global internet. On a desperate hunt for answers, Pete joins forces with his attractive Jamaican friend, downstairs neighbor, and secret love, Sophie, who happens to be a university quantum physicist. Together, the intrepid millennials embark on an international mission to first find the scientist who leaked the rumor and then join the race against Russian Federal Security counteroperatives to thwart the global catastrophe of a cyberterrorism weapon. Written as chronological blog posts that often address readers directly, the novel delivers a deliberate initial setup that belies the rousing chapters that whisk readers through a rapid succession of locations like South America and France. Romantically, the duo’s physical attraction is mutual and undeniable, and Sophie, whose real name is Lani, introduces a religious and emotional element into the budding relationship. Pete reliably and charmingly narrates the action from his perspective as a science-loving nerd hot on the trail of a big conspiracy who is hoping to get the girl of his dreams along the way. Holt has created an endearing character in Pete and adds brief perspectives on race, national security, and technological omnipresence to a thriller that is as introspective, thought-provoking, and socially conscious as it is suspenseful, particularly in the book’s final third. Employing a smooth mixture of action and intrigue with a large dose of self-aggrandizing good humor, the author will capture readers’ attention with two winning heroes.
A provocative, timely, urgently told thrill ride sure to resonate with suspense and romance fans.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-66-853478-4
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.
The 25th novel featuring Silva’s legendary protagonist.
During his intersecting careers as art restorer and Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon has tangled with Russian gangsters and al-Qaida terrorists. He has become well-acquainted with operatives in multiple security agencies and befriended a paid assassin. He has busted art thieves and created passable forgeries by Renaissance masters and abstract Modernists. This latest installment centers around his relationship with the pope and a newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci that has gone missing from the Vatican. Silva’s novels tend to fall into two categories: books that reflect the politics of the day and books that don’t. His latest is one of the latter, which could be a treat for readers looking for escape, but it falls flat for a variety of reasons. Luxury has always been part of Gabriel Allon’s universe. It used to be an aspect of tradecraft, though. Allon would be wearing a very expensive suit and driving a very expensive car because he was posing as a client at a Swiss bank. Here, his wife is hosting a catered lunch for 150 of their daughter’s classmates in their apartment overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. What once felt like a scintillating peek into the world of the obscenely wealthy now just feels…kind of obscene. Similarly, Allon goes chasing after a missing painting as a civilian—he retired from Mossad in Portrait of an Unknown Woman (2022)—the same way another man his age might buy a speedboat or get hair plugs. As the story progresses, the stakes are raised, but it’s hard to forget that Allon is now a middle-aged man pursuing a dangerous hobby, rather than a spymaster leading his intrepid team to prevent a disaster that will disrupt the global order.
A rather flat entry in a generally excellent series.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063384217
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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