A high-IQ, low-key domestic thriller with more than a touch of the metafictional.
Ten years after he left her, Liesl Einstein’s husband is back in the picture. But exactly what sort of picture is it?
The marriage between Liesl and Samson Kinsey was never idyllic, overshadowed as it was by both something that happened to Liesl when she was 13—an infant she was babysitting succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome while she was doing her math homework—and Sam’s earlier romance with her older sister, Alice, our narrator, a novelist whose recent books have been met with limited success. So, it was no great surprise when Sam dumped a significant fraction of his trust fund on Liesl and left. But why has he returned? Maybe it’s because he’s suffering from myositis and needs special care. Maybe his wanderings in the decade he’s been on his own have persuaded him that he can’t do better than Liesl. Or maybe he just wants an excuse to rekindle his relationship with Alice, who tells him in no uncertain terms that she wishes he’d leave and die and wonders whether Brigid Quinn, an FBI agent turned private investigator with her own fraught backstory, might turn up any dirt on Sam that would force his hand. In the meantime, Liesl’s political activism leads her to invite Salvadoran asylum seeker Marisol Gutierrez and her son, Juan, into a household that suddenly includes Sam, and Alice starts to spin pitches for a new novel tentatively titled Her Prodigal Husband based on her untenable family situation. Masterman takes her time weaving together all these threads, but Alice is such an engaging and self-deprecating narrator that she makes even the doldrums entertaining.
A high-IQ, low-key domestic thriller with more than a touch of the metafictional.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781448311989
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back—but all, of course, is not what it seems.
Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails—first his book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident—and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story.
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781250337788
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.
Hired to find the father of celebrity “muffin girl” Traci Beller 10 years after his disappearance, PI Elvis Cole uncovers a nefarious plot that puts his life and those he contacts at risk.
The sweetly likable Traci, now 23, has amassed a huge following with her website, The Baker Next Door, and on social media. Against the advice and self-interest of the people who over-manage her career, she decides to find out what happened to her father. Cole quickly determines that he was last seen at the SurfMutt hamburger stand, where he gave a ride to Anya Given, a troubled 15-year-old whose mother, Sadie, was late in picking her up from the skate park across the street. With the reluctant help of a scattered young woman who used to work at the burger joint, Cole tracks down Anya and Sadie, who is eventually revealed to have a criminal past. For his efforts, he’s jumped by a small gang of men who send him to the hospital with the worst beating of his life. (Asked by a nurse what his name is, the best he can guess is “Los Angeles.”) Still in recovery, Cole and Joe Pike, his ex-Marine partner, trace his attackers to Sadie, with unexpected results. As ever, Crais draws the reader in via his protagonist’s casual, dryly humorous manner and the book’s relaxed ties to classic noir. Slowly but surely, the plot gains intensity and deadly purpose. Just when you think the missing persons case is solved, Crais ratchets things up with a devastating follow-through. This is the L.A. novelist’s 20th Cole mystery, following such efforts as The Watchman (2007) and Racing the Light (2022). It may be his most powerful.
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780525535768
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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