A great, gravely unsettling novel that welcomes repeated readings.
Smacking her abusive, low-life husband in the head with a cast-iron pan, a young Brooklyn mom sets off a chain of events that threatens her and her family, including her young son.
Risa Taverna is the essence of well-behaved (“she’s lived all tightened up”). But when her drunk husband, Sav, points a gun at her; her 8-month-old son, Fab; and her close sister, Giulia, she takes action. Tragically, Sav hits his head on a table on the way down and dies. With the help of Fab’s “Uncle Chooch,” who has long pined after Risa, the desperate sisters bury the body in upstate New York and tell everyone in their Italian neighborhood of Gravesend that Sav ran off to parts unknown. Everyone except Fab, who barely speaks, manages to lead a normal-ish life until years later when Sav’s wretched older brother, Roberto, shows up questioning Risa’s story (he will regret doing so). Years later, Father Tim, a young priest with money problems, tries to extort money from Risa to keep him from spreading rumors about Sav that he heard in a bar. And in the final section of this flowing epic, Fab, now an angry, delinquent teenager with gambling debts, goes off in search of the father he barely knew but is fast turning into. An established noir master, Boyle outdoes himself in crafting a novel of deep dimensions marked by intergenerational trauma, family strife, and failed religion (“the cardboard taste of a million communion wafers remained in his mouth”). It’s a page-turning performance with unforgettable scenes, including a nearly unbearable one in which Risa can’t help serving the blackmailing priest warmed up lasagna even as he’s threatening her. The names of the characters, including Jane the Stain, All Bad Allie, and Cyclone Archie, are worth the price of admission.
A great, gravely unsettling novel that welcomes repeated readings.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781641296403
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Soho Crime
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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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