by Bert Murray ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 2022
A simple yet delightfully left-field take on a fight against oppression.
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Murray offers a near-future thriller sequel about a war on personal freedom.
In the first series installment, New York City was shown to have been taken over by a government that’s hostile to individual rights, particularly regarding religion. Enforcers known as Thought Police have the power to arrest and detain anyone. As one character explains it, they “don't believe in religion or moral values. They just act on the orders they are given by the soulless city government.” Two Jewish people in their 40s, Sue and David, fled to Long Island. The Thought Police don’t have jurisdiction there, and it’s home to a hotel turned safehouse run by Hilda, a leading member of the rebellious New York Freedom Fighters. She was kidnapped by the Thought Police at the end of the previous book, but her fellow Freedom Fighters find her, and she has ideas on how to fight against the city. To kick things off, several of her organization’s members, including Sue and David, head into Manhattan to rescue some Jewish people being held against their will in an apartment. The entire gang conduct the operation dressed as Batman; if anyone asks any questions, they plan to say that they’re merely in the city for a costume party. Although the mission is a success, it’s clear that much more will be required to make a dent in the oppressive society and to foil the Thought Police’s plan for an all-out assault on the city. David reflects on his new existence: “My life had become like an action movie.”
As in an action film, things move quickly in this brief book. No sooner has Hilda recovered from her abduction ordeal that she’s ready to try something new. “The cowards didn't have the guts to kill me,” she says of her kidnappers. And, indeed, throughout the story, the villains continually prove to be inept. The Freedom Fighters, by contrast, are highly skilled—sometimes despite themselves. For example, at one point, David says, “I don't know much about guns. I'm not sure how to fire it,” but he still manages to shoot a moving vehicle while riding in another. Such moments, combined with a mostly bloodless storyline (although there are some deaths) gives the story a unique feel that’s much different from a traditional thriller. It certainly proves to be stranger and more playful than one might expect in a work about a citywide totalitarian government. For instance, as in the first installment, there are dogs in the middle of the fray; when David is preparing to take the fateful shot, for instance, Sue, who’s in the car with him, struggles to keep a canine named Tim from “jumping up to look out the window.” The animal is humorously subdued with the help of some peanut butter cookies. Although it seems clear early on that the good guys will emerge triumphant (either in this volume or a later one), the fun comes in following the offbeat path they travel along the way.
A simple yet delightfully left-field take on a fight against oppression.Pub Date: April 8, 2022
ISBN: 9798449217967
Page Count: 108
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Patricia Cornwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2024
Expert, but unsurprising.
The death of an old friend who was more than a friend sends Dr. Kay Scarpetta down her latest rabbit hole.
If every body tells a story, the corpse of 7-year-old Luna Briley sings the blues. On top of the many signs of ongoing physical abuse, there’s the fatal gunshot wound to her head. Ryder and Piper Briley, the wealthy and powerful parents who didn’t call the police until after their daughter died, insist that Luna’s death was an accident, or maybe a suicide. Scarpetta doesn’t think so, and her refusal to release the body to the Brileys’ hand-picked mortician moves them to legal action against her as Virginia’s chief medical examiner. You’d think it would be a relief to put this case aside for another when Scarpetta’s niece, Secret Service agent Lucy Farinelli, calls her and ferries her by helicopter to an abandoned Oz theme park owned by Ryder Briley, but this one’s even more heartbreaking. Scarpetta is there to examine the body of astrophysicist Sal Giordano, her close friend and former lover, who was evidently kidnapped, held in captivity for several hours, and tossed out of an unidentified aircraft. The leading suspects are the Brileys; Carrie Grethen, Lucy’s sociopathic ex-lover, with whom Scarpetta has repeatedly tangled in the past; and the UFO that dumped Giordano’s body without leaving the usual traces for air-traffic technologies to pick up. The multiple rounds of physical examinations Scarpetta conducts on both victims are every bit as meticulous and gripping as fans would expect; the killer’s identity is neither surprising nor interesting, but Cornwell juggles her trademark forensics, and the paranormal hints she’s become increasingly invested in, more dexterously than usual.
Expert, but unsurprising.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781538770382
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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by Liane Moriarty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2024
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.
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New York Times Bestseller
What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?
In the first page and a half of her latest page-turner, bestselling Australian author Moriarty introduces a large cast of fascinating characters, all seated on a flight to Sydney that’s delayed on the tarmac. There’s the “bespectacled hipster” with his arm in a cast; a very pregnant woman; a young mom with a screaming infant and a sweaty toddler; a bride and groom, still in their wedding clothes; a surly 6-year-old forced to miss a laser-tag party; a darling elderly couple; a chatty tourist pair; several others. No one even notices the woman who will later become a household name as the “Death Lady” until she hops up from her seat and begins to deliver predictions to each of them about the age they’ll be when they die and the cause of their deaths. Age 30, assault, for the hipster. Age 7, drowning, for the baby in arms. Age 43, workplace accident, for a 42-year-old civil engineer. Self-harm, age 28, for the lovely flight attendant, who is that day celebrating her 28th birthday. Over the next 126 chapters (some just a paragraph), you will get to know all these people, and their reactions to the news of their demise, very well. Best of all, you will get to know Cherry Lockwood, the Death Lady, and the life that brought her to this day. Is it true, as she repeatedly intones on the plane, that “fate won’t be fought”? Does this novel support the idea that clairvoyance is real? Does it find a means to logically dismiss the whole thing? Or is it some complex amalgam of these possibilities? Sorry, you won’t find that out here, and in fact not until you’ve turned all 500-plus pages. The story is a brilliant, charming, and invigorating illustration of its closing quote from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (we’re not going to spill that either).
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593798607
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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