An entertaining shoot’em-up whose heroes have to think as carefully as they aim.
Texas ranchers set out to find a couple of murderous bushwhackers in this knotty Western adventure.
The final installment of Morris’ trilogy opens in 1885 with the 50-something ex–Texas Ranger Raifford MacReynolds and his stepson, Tom McKlarren, as comfortable, married ranch proprietors with past conflicts with Native Americans and cattle rustlers long behind them. However, Raifford’s past resurfaces when a couple of his cowhands are killed by prison escapees Bob Boudroux and Slade Pierce, who have old grudges against him. He and Tom saddle up once more for an epic trek to bring the perps to rough justice, equipped with a state-of-the-art arsenal that includes a Sharps Creedmoor rifle, Winchester ’76 Centennial repeaters, Greener 10-gauge shotguns, and miscellaneous revolvers. In previous outings (2010’s The Edge of Forever and 2017’s Reflections in a Distant Mirror), Raifford and Tom confronted the anarchic violence of the open frontier, but 19 years later, they traverse a tamer landscape where the range is fenced in and lawmen insist that criminals be tried. The pair pursue the escaped prisoners in saloons and brothels in towns ruled by corrupt officials; the villains leave a trail of hoofprints and dead bodies that leads into Comanche territory. There, the story gravitates to previous installments’ core elements: Comanche warriors, who now warily coexist with the main characters; long-range marksmanship; and nerve-wracking cat-and-mouse strategies. Morris offers his usual meticulously rendered action—“[Raifford] reached down and jerked his Winchester out of my hands, worked the lever, turned toward the rear, took aim, and fired three times in rapid succession at the trio behind us, who had already broken like a covey of quail”—and energetic prose that features sharply etched characters and punchy dialogue, as when Raifford notes, “The buffalo are gone; you can’t ride ten miles anymore without running into this godforsaken barbed wire.” The result is an acerbic elegy for the Old West with a larger-than-life protagonist.
An entertaining shoot’em-up whose heroes have to think as carefully as they aim.Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73633-642-7
Page Count: 437
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.
A Christmas bout between Kay Scarpetta and the Phantom Slasher.
But first, Scarpetta, Virginia’s chief medical examiner, has to figure out how software designer Rowdy O’Leary died. Fished from the Potomac River on Christmas Eve six years after a hit-and-run driver left him permanently disabled and a week after he plunked down the cash for a pricey emerald ring, he fell off his fishing perch and drowned—or did he? Scarpetta’s examination of his body is cut short by two disturbing developments: the discovery of an unidentified woman’s remains buried on the grounds of Mercy Psychiatric Hospital, and celebrity TV reporter Dana Diletti’s report that the red-eyed ghost associated with the Slasher’s three murders has floated through the window of her home. She’s got video, too, and the apparition looks real and scary. The final blow to Scarpetta’s plans for a Christmas getaway with her husband, Secret Service forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, is an attack on an Alexandria home that kills Mercy psychiatrist Georgine Duvall, who used to treat Scarpetta’s niece, Lucy Farinelli, and nearly kills graduate student Zain Willard, White House intern and nephew of presidential candidate Sen. Calvin Willard. This time the Slasher’s ghost has been spotted on the scene by none other than Pete Marino, head of investigations for the medical examiner’s office and Scarpetta’s longtime sidekick. Cornwell’s use of Robbie, Zain’s robotic dog, and Janet, Lucy’s AI companion, integrates the futuristic elements she favors more successfully than in her recent outings. But the solutions to all these mysteries will leave fans of the venerable franchise pursing their lips rather than gasping in awe.
Come for the forensics, stay for the nonhumans.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538773963
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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