Whatever your reaction, you’re guaranteed to turn the last page with relief.
Reassuringly nonviolent sociopath Dr. Gretchen White returns for a second round of encounters with someone who’s evidently less inhibited than her.
Gretchen’s had her history with Boston detectives Patrick Shaughnessy and Lauren Marconi of Major Crimes. Although they still suspect she may have murdered her aunt, Rowan White, newly emerging evidence has deepened the mystery. Ten years before her murder, Rowan had been found running from the woods, her arms covered with cuts, and two weeks after that, her schoolmate Jenny Cross disappeared, her corpse, discovered months later in the woods, had similarly slashed arms. Jenny’s father is still unable to recover from his grief; her sister, Tabitha, is determined to take a more proactive role. A cryptic note from Rowan to Shaughnessy—“There are more girls. Find them”—suggests that Jenny’s death, and perhaps Rowan’s as well, could be linked to as many as 10 cases of young women gone missing between 1987 and 1993, half of them found murdered with their arms cut, half still unaccounted for. Although Gretchen, a psychologist who consults with the Boston PD, readily admits that she’s a sociopath, the rest of the cast gives her serious competition, from Gretchen’s unloving parents, psychoanalyst Anders White and his Botox-frozen wife, Bardot, to Cal Hart, Tabitha’s abusive lover. Unfortunately, Labuskes darts so frequently among multiple time frames featuring similar crimes and similar (often identical) suspects that readers who aren’t taking conscientious notes as the bodies pile up may find themselves less disturbed than confused. Those who persist, however, will find a first-class surprise in the closing scene.
Whatever your reaction, you’re guaranteed to turn the last page with relief.Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-3552-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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