An all-around enjoyable novel for fans of medical, military or global-espionage thrillers.
A group of American soldiers tracks a maniacal terrorist in possession of a biochemical weapon.
Ensign George Anders is positioned at the front of a global crisis in this military thriller set during the first Gulf War. Fluent in multiple languages and versed in military intelligence, Anders is less experienced in the field of combat. He’ll need to employ his skills to track down and detain Fahkir Kaseem, a dangerous terrorist intent on methodically destroying the West with a genetic weapon. Aiding Anders is a team of battle-hardened soldiers, warriors ready to provide access to any secure site he needs. At the same time, across the Middle East and into Eastern Europe, the other half of the story unfolds. Russian scientist Annelia Salenski, feeling at fault for a laboratory accident, is charged with stealing the only existing plans for this devilish bio-weapon. Little does she realize that her colleagues, intent on fleeing a crumbling Russia, will later become her enemies in this global drama. The weapon in question is a compound called Satan’s Sister, which combines two vicious filoviruses that not only work in tandem, but cancel each other out once released, thereby avoiding detection. But this combination of smallpox and the Marburg virus is not a weapon in the conventional sense–it actually alters its victims’ personalities according to a pre-established formula, thereby calling into question how humans evolve and what is truly predetermined. This main premise–the debate about evolution and intelligent design–seems overambitious, and the story could be just as enjoyable as a conventional action-adventure. The Navy SEAL team that Anders joins is stocked with stereotypical characters, but Reed brings them to life through vivid physical descriptions and realistic dialogue, absorbed during his time in the military. The Cold War setting might feel dated to some readers, but the story neatly segues into a chilling present. Readers in the know will remember that the Soviet Union performed research on similar compounds for use as weapons, which makes this story all the more compelling.
An all-around enjoyable novel for fans of medical, military or global-espionage thrillers.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-14196-5462-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An addictive psychological thriller.
When a mysterious novel appears on her bedside table, a successful documentary filmmaker finds herself face to face with a secret that threatens to unravel life as she knows it.
Catherine Ravenscroft has built a dream life, or close to it: the devoted husband, the house in London, the award-winning career as a documentary filmmaker. And though she’s never quite bonded with her 25-year-old son the way she’d hoped, he’s doing fine—there are worse things than being an electronics salesman. But when she stumbles across a sinister novel called The Perfect Stranger—no one’s quite sure how it came into the house—Catherine sees herself in its pages, living out scenes from her past she’d hoped to forget. It’s a threat—but from whom? And why now, 20 years after the fact? Meanwhile, Stephen Brigstocke, a retired teacher, widowed and in pain, is desperate to exact revenge on Catherine and make her pay for what happened all those years ago. The story is told in alternating chapters, Catherine's in the third-person and Stephen's in the first, as the two orbit each other, predator and prey, and the novel moves between the past and the present to paint a portrait of two troubled families with trauma bubbling under the surface. As their lives become increasingly entangled, Stephen’s obsession grows, Catherine’s world crumbles, and it becomes clear that—in true thriller form—everything may not be as it seems. But how much destruction must be wrought before the truth comes out? And when it does, will there be anything left to salvage? While the long buildup to the big reveal begins to drag, Knight’s elegant plot and compelling (if not unexpected) characters keep the heart of the novel beating even when the pacing falters. Atmospheric and twisting and ripe for TV adaptation, this debut novel never strays far from convention, but that doesn’t make it any less of a page-turner.
An addictive psychological thriller.Pub Date: May 19, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236225-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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