A lively pop thriller with a pair of hard-working heroines that could almost have been written by AI.
Marital dysfunction is complicated by an inexplicable kidnapping.
After a short prologue that finds Nathan Liddle helpless “as a bug on its back” and expecting to be killed at any moment by his beautiful wife, Eve Thayer, a psychiatrist, the story flashes back three weeks to the couple’s strained marriage. While their new baby, Rosewyn, is the proverbial bundle of joy, her needs and bouts of ill health add strain to their relationship. So does Nathan’s careless extramarital affair with a free-spirited woman named Nicole. A parallel plot thread follows Det. Rita Myers and her handling of multiple local crimes. The two threads converge when Rosewyn is kidnapped from the home of babysitter Barbara Singleton. For a while, suspicion falls on Donald Barry—a disgruntled patient of Eve’s—and his wife, Gail, but some strange additional twists widen the circle of suspects. The surprise return of the baby doesn’t solve the original crime; it just deepens the mystery. Parlato’s thriller is breezy but a bit muddled, full of feints, shadowy suspicion, and an 11th-hour murder. Short chapters ricochet among the first-person perspectives of Eve, Nathan, and Rita, making for a quick read and giving the illusion of pace. Both Eve and Rita commiserate about their jobs and their struggles to achieve the elusive work-life balance, Eve with her old friend Rachel and Rita with her brother Danny. The overall effect resembles a Lifetime thriller: half skillfully executed soap opera, half diffuse whodunit.
A lively pop thriller with a pair of hard-working heroines that could almost have been written by AI.Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781496738622
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Despite the stakes, the heroine’s second adventure is a generally lighthearted anti-caper.
Gabriela Rose, the recovery agent famed for being able to find almost anything, goes looking for the Rosetta Stone. And that’s only the beginning.
You didn’t know the Rosetta Stone was missing? That’s because the British Museum, wanting to keep its theft hush-hush, has been displaying a copy in its place. And Gabriela’s involvement is equally secretive. Her ex-husband, Rafer Jones, has pressed her to find it because his idiot cousin, Harley Patch, who improbably became president of the Searl and Junkett bank, has taken it upon himself to insure a slew of priceless artifacts—many of which have now gone missing. The stone, as it turns out, is surprisingly easy to find. Following the trail of Leon Blake, a new operations officer at the museum who quit two days after the theft, and John Mackey, a museum security guard who was shot to death that same day, Gabriela successfully beats out rival recovery agent Ahmed Ed Ghaly, who’s been tasked with bringing the stone back to Egypt, in the hunt. An altogether more elusive prize is the golden inner coffin of Tutankhamen’s half brother, unofficially dubbed “Brendan.” This search is more dangerous, too, because Ahmed kidnaps Harley to make sure that Gabriela turns the coffin over to him. Jim, the Cairo cabbie Gabriela hires to drive her around, takes to calling himself Jim Bond once he sees her in action; and he’s on to something—not because the fate of the free world hangs in the balance, but because “the heist to end all heists” gradually dissolves into an amusing, episodic travelogue whose climax feels like just one more picturesque tableau.
Despite the stakes, the heroine’s second adventure is a generally lighthearted anti-caper.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781668027479
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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