A gripping but uneven tale about a political revolution.
A thriller sequel sees a woman and her soldiers establish a new republic.
After the devastating events in Miller’s series opener that ended in the death of Princeton professor Angus Turner, an informal, well-intentioned organization called the Book Club has disbanded, with its vigilante members suffering the ill effects of trauma and betrayal. Princeton mathematics professor Albert Puddles, one of the Book Club’s members, is in hiding, drowning his sorrows in alcohol and helplessly following the whirlwind political changes in the United States. He watches from afar as Cristina Culebra and her army rise to power and state after state secedes from America to join the ranks of her Republic of Enlightenment and Democracy. Her use of the life-changing principles of something called the Tree of Knowledge, which involves a math formula and algorithm, allows Cristina to manipulate events to gain absolute control. Yet Albert’s own ability to see the future employing the same concept leaves him hopelessly unable to figure out a way to alter the political landscape. An unpredictable event occurs when a mysterious terrorist known as the Cipher disrupts Cristina’s seemingly unstoppable ascent and organizes a resistance movement. The members of the Book Club see this as the best possible moment to reassemble in a last-ditch effort to stop Cristina’s coup. With deaths, treachery, and a foe in their ranks, Albert and the Book Club face their biggest challenge yet. This sequel, a marked improvement over its predecessor, features a taut plot, less academic prose, and a reduced reliance on the Tree of Knowledge as a narrative gimmick. Instead, this installment skillfully focuses on the personal anguish of Albert as well as on a greater examination of the ethics of using the Tree of Knowledge for good or evil. On the other hand, the Cipher’s modus operandi of leaving fairly easy ciphers to be decrypted by the terrorist’s followers (“Solve the cipher. Follow the Cipher”) undermines the radical’s supposed genius. The peculiar religious motifs connected to the Cipher also feel out of place. And Cristina’s largely unopposed and meteoric rise in the U.S. seems implausible and unearned. Readers’ engagement will depend on the extent to which they embrace the over-the-top premise. Still, fans of the first book will likely enjoy the riveting sequel.
A gripping but uneven tale about a political revolution.Pub Date: March 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73764-630-3
Page Count: 319
Publisher: Houndstooth Books
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK TO SCREEN
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.
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
PERSPECTIVES
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