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LOST HIGHWAY

A JOHN TYLER THRILLER

An effective and suspenseful novel despite its clichéd scenario.

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Ex–Special Forces operative John Tyler uses his skills to protect an endangered pop star in Fowler’s third installment in his thriller series.

The story opens with Tyler, an Army veteran, about to begin a longed-for career as an antique car mechanic. The name he gives to his fledgling car shop, Special Operations Classic Car Repair, is a nod to his time as a Green Beret, and it also hints at his undiminished hankering for the thrills he experienced during those glory days. So, when Tyler’s former boss, Cliff, presents him with the opportunity to complete a “simple protection detail” for up-and-coming singer Alex Anne, it doesn’t take Tyler long to rationalize his decision to take the gig: “On the off chance the job provided any excitement, he could use it. The money wouldn’t hurt, either.” After just a few days of keeping close tabs on the young musician, Tyler’s job turns into a missing person operation, as Alex is kidnapped by an international ring of human traffickers. He decides to take on the rescue operation solo, and, using his tactical training, he soon finds that the mission has an unexpected connection to his own time in the military. The rescue makes for an exhilarating, if somewhat predictable, narrative pitting a heroic American veteran against a sinister Middle Eastern antagonist in an effort to liberate damsels in distress. What makes this fast-paced workstand out, though, is its emphasis on the trauma that arises from combat. Fowler makes it clear that Tyler suffers from PTSD, and he also equips his hero with the wisdom to offer comfort and advice, illustrating that he’s not just about steely bravado: “Talk to someone. A professional,” he says to another character after she goes through a trauma of her own. “You’re going to need to deal with this, or it’ll eat you alive.”

An effective and suspenseful novel despite its clichéd scenario.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-953603-39-5

Page Count: 272

Publisher: manuscript

Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2022

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DEVOLUTION

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

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Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

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THE GOD OF THE WOODS

"Don't go into the woods" takes on unsettling new meaning in Moore's blend of domestic drama and crime novel.

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Many years after her older brother, Bear, went missing, Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the same sleepaway camp he did, leading to dark, bitter truths about her wealthy family.

One morning in 1975 at Camp Emerson—an Adirondacks summer camp owned by her family—it's discovered that 13-year-old Barbara isn't in her bed. A problem case whose unhappily married parents disdain her goth appearance and "stormy" temperament, Barbara is secretly known by one bunkmate to have slipped out every night after bedtime. But no one has a clue where's she permanently disappeared to, firing speculation that she was taken by a local serial killer known as Slitter. As Jacob Sluiter, he was convicted of 11 murders in the 1960s and recently broke out of prison. He's the one, people say, who should have been prosecuted for Bear's abduction, not a gardener who was framed. Leave it to the young and unproven assistant investigator, Judy Luptack, to press forward in uncovering the truth, unswayed by her bullying father and male colleagues who question whether women are "cut out for this work." An unsavory group portrait of the Van Laars emerges in which the children's father cruelly abuses their submissive mother, who is so traumatized by the loss of Bear—and the possible role she played in it—that she has no love left for her daughter. Picking up on the themes of families in search of themselves she explored in Long Bright River (2020), Moore draws sympathy to characters who have been subjected to spousal, parental, psychological, and physical abuse. As rich in background detail and secondary mysteries as it is, this ever-expansive, intricate, emotionally engaging novel never seems overplotted. Every piece falls skillfully into place and every character, major and minor, leaves an imprint.

"Don't go into the woods" takes on unsettling new meaning in Moore's blend of domestic drama and crime novel.

Pub Date: July 2, 2024

ISBN: 9780593418918

Page Count: 496

Publisher: Riverhead

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024

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