A formidable contender in the religious-thriller genre.
When a professor of folklore and his student are murdered, a Philadelphia detective is on the case.
Detective John McDonough plays a cat-and-mouse game to find who killed Professor Richard Dunglison and his student Ted Hallman. At the crime scene, the word “Hamlet” is written in blood, and Hallman mumbles “Poor Yorick,” to Dunglison’s severed head just before dying. Prior to Hallman’s death, he was working feverishly on a paper that would reveal the whereabouts of an ancient lost text. McDonough realizes that Hallman’s knowledge is what got him killed and his teacher dismembered. The detective finds Hallman’s notes inside a copy of Hamlet at Hallman’s apartment. In the course of 24 hours—a highly unfeasible time frame for all that ensues—McDonough is immersed in the world of academe: cryptic clues that involve church history, witchcraft, a kidnapping and the missing ancient book that purportedly imparts secret powers. His investigation uncovers that a crooked cop is divulging information to those willing to kill for the book, and although the dirty one stands out among the suspects, Ohl does throw in a few surprising twists. The detective doesn’t know whom to trust as he deciphers the mystery surrounding a sect that broke from the church centuries ago and will stop at nothing to retrieve the lost tome. Amid the intricately plotted, Da Vinci Code-style story, a flirtatious dance develops between the detective and Amy Ritter, Dunglison’s student on whom McDonough relies for historical knowledge surrounding the mysterious Brethren of Roxborough, a local religious group that may hold the answer to the murders. A dizzying assemblage of clues, including a centuries-old letter, a lieutenant’s death and the appearance of an enigmatic woman named Sophia Mezzalura, pervade the first third of the story and lead McDonough and Ritter to an exhumation, where the pace finally accommodates the unraveling of the puzzle. Although some questions remain, such as what power the book purportedly bestows, Ohl delivers on many accounts, including a well-crafted cast, short, snappy chapters that move the action along and a touch of mystery at the end, which lends itself to a sequel. Ohl’s ambitious attempt at this debut novel bodes well for the next installment.
A formidable contender in the religious-thriller genre.Pub Date: June 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-1477681268
Page Count: 276
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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