A resilient series hero drives this tense, absorbing mystery.
In Magnani’s thriller (one in a series), a toxicologist-turned-assassin investigates climate scientists’ questionable deaths.
Dr. Lily Robinson knows her poisons and toxins, which is how she makes her U.S. government–sanctioned assassinations look natural. She’s also the perfect choice to look into scientist Daniel Williams’ death while he was scuba diving off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Though a venomous sea krait’s bite killed him, that particular snake isn’t commonly found in that area. After another scientist and her husband mysteriously die in Australian waters, it seems someone is targeting people with ties to the Climate Council, which has an upcoming conference in Brussels. Lily, on behalf of a clandestine team she’s previously worked for, investigates in Sydney, South Africa, and Belgium. She’s joined by operatives Jean Paul “JP” Marchand (who’s also her soul mate) and the mononymous Parker as she works to uncover the toxin-armed killer(s) agenda. Their mission may soon entail taking out the operatives who are hot on the killer’s trail. As in Magnani’s A Message in Poison (2022), the story teems with medical terminology and clear details about poisons and toxic plants and animals. Chapters intercut Lily’s first-person narration with third-person perspectives; this approach allows readers to identify at least one villain before Lily even has a chance. This structure also amps up the suspense, especially once the malefactor in question realizes someone is onto them. The narrative intermittently dives into Lily’s curious past as she reminisces about someone she lost decades earlier, as well as the woman who recruited her to the team. Although Lily’s toxicological expertise and professed “Spidey sense” (“Years of buried feelings have allowed me to develop an intuition that reaches deep from within”) rarely come into play in this sequel, her doggedness and all-around scientific knowledge make her an exceptional investigator. The plot rolls out a few surprises, including a doozy in the searing final act.
A resilient series hero drives this tense, absorbing mystery.Pub Date: July 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781645995258
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Encircle Publications, LLC
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Red-hot storytelling.
Two master storytellers create one explosive thriller.
Mauna Loa is going to blow within days—“the biggest damn eruption in a century”—and John “Mac” MacGregor of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory leads a team trying to fend off catastrophe. Can they vent the volcano? Divert the flow of blistering hot lava? The city of Hilo is but a few miles down the hill from the world’s largest active volcano and will likely be in the path of a 15-foot-high wall of molten menace racing toward them at 50 miles an hour. “You live here, you always worry about the big one,” Mac says, and this could be it. There’s much more, though. The U.S. Army swoops in, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff personally “drafts” Mac into the Army. Then Mac learns the frightening secret of the Army’s special interest in Mauna Loa, and suddenly the stakes fly far, far beyond Hilo. Perhaps they can save the world, but the odds don’t look good. Readers will sympathize with Mac, who teaches surfing to troubled teens and for whom “taking chances is part of his damned genetic code.” But no one takes chances like the aerial cowboy Jake Rogers and the photographer who hires him to fly over the smoldering, burbling, rock-spitting hellhole. Some of the action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build. As with any good thriller, there’s a body count, but not all thrillers have blackened corpses surfing lava flows. The story is the brainchild of the late Crichton, who did a great deal of research but died in 2008 before he could finish the novel. His widow handed the project to James Patterson, who weaves Crichton’s work into a seamless summer read.
Red-hot storytelling.Pub Date: June 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780316565073
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.
A descendant of enslaved people fights a Florida developer over the future of a small island.
In 1760, the slave ship Venus breaks apart in a storm on its way to Savannah, and only a few survivors, all Africans, find their way safely to a tiny barrier island between Florida and Georgia. For two centuries, only formerly enslaved people and their descendants live there. A curse on white people hangs over the island, and none who ever set foot on it survive. Its last resident was Lovely Jackson, who departed as a teen in 1955. Today—well, in 2020—a developer called Tidal Breeze wants Florida’s permission to “develop” Dark Isle, which sits within bridge-building distance from the well-established Camino Island. The plot is an easy setup for Grisham, big people vs. little people. Lovely’s revered ancestors are buried on Dark Isle, which Hurricane Leo devastated from end to end. Lovely claims the islet’s ownership despite not having formal title, and she wants white folks to leave the place alone. But apparently Florida doesn’t have enough casinos and golf courses to suit some people. Surely developers can buy off that little old Black lady with a half million bucks. No? How about a million? “I wish they’d stop offering money,” Lovely complains. “I ain’t for sale.” Thus a non-jury court trial begins to establish ownership. The story has no legal fireworks, just ordinary maneuvering. The real fun is in the backstory, in the portrayal of the aptly named Lovely, and the skittishness of white people to step on the island as long as the ancient curse remains. Lovely has self-published a history of the island, and a sympathetic white woman named Mercer Mann decides to write a nonfiction account as well. When that book ultimately comes out, reviewers for Kirkus (and others) “raved on and on.” Don’t expect stunning twists, though early on Dark Isle gives four white guys a stark message. The tension ends with the judge’s verdict, but the remaining 30 pages bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780385545990
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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