An imaginative and offbeat blend of psychological intrigue, murder, and romance.
A detective with extra sensory perception teams up with a psychic to solve a gruesome murder in this genre-bending thriller.
In County’s (Plastic Soldiers, 2020, etc.) suspenseful supernatural crime story, Nathan Ember finds out there are pros and cons to being hit by lightning: For one, he has the ability to see clearly into the recent past. His “gift” doesn’t give him “X-ray vision or super hearing. It’s more like two movies of the same place, superimposed and twenty-four hours apart.” This kind of “double” vision cost him his job as an air traffic controller, but it allows him to eke out a living as a budding detective. When he hears that a body was pitched into a dumpster and set on fire the night before, he revisits the past scene and sees a headless, handless body being discarded and torched by a man with a maniacal laugh. He also sees the number of the man’s license plate, which he gives to a friend, Detective Sgt. Daniel Ballinger. But Nathan learns that psychic Galena Torres, who has hypnotic brown eyes and “grab-me curves,” had already given Ballinger the same intel. Initially, Nathan has a hard time believing Galena’s powers are real; but once he’s convinced they’re genuine, the two team up to find out who the dead man is and who murdered him. The novel’s crime-solving is engaging, and the progression of Nathan and Galena’s relationship is engaging, but the real treat is the author’s clever blending of past and present. Nathan must try to avoid being in the same place at the same time two days in a row so he won’t be confused when his two selves overlap and his senses become overwhelmed. Overall, the pacing is rapid-fire and the narrative jam-packed with surprises. Other bonuses include a rich mix of ethnicities and ages, plus a really creepy killer. Dialogue is sharp, and even biting when Galena meets Nathan’s tall, blond, bejeweled former wife Anita, who “has a thing about money. It’s called greed.”
An imaginative and offbeat blend of psychological intrigue, murder, and romance.Pub Date: June 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798284790700
Page Count: 270
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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