A rote Dan Brown knockoff, though well researched and often unintentionally amusing.
The pope is in peril and only an international man of Marian mystery can save him.
Superstar academic Cal Donovan, esteemed Harvard professor of religion and archaeology, roguish lady’s man, and loyal cat’s-paw of the pope, returns in this weirdly sedate thriller concerning an earthshaking “fourth secret” divulged by the famous apparition of Mary to three young children at Fátima in 1917. Lúcia dos Santos, the principal recipient of the vision’s message, described some of Mary's revelations and prophecies, which included visions of hell, the advent of World War II, and the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981. Long-standing rumors of a fourth, as yet undisclosed, secret prophecy come to a head some nine decades later on the cusp of Lúcia’s beatification as the pope is threatened by a mysterious group with their own designs regarding the secret vision. Our man Donovan is tasked with solving the mystery of the fourth prophecy before Lúcia is sainted a few days hence and the promised doom arrives. The Marian apparitions make for an intriguing thriller setup, but the thin characterizations and lack of momentum—despite the plot’s ticking clock—sap the narrative of any thrills it might have yielded. We mostly follow the dashing, wish-fulfillment uber-mensch Donovan through a series of densely expository conversations with various church officials as he doggedly tracks Lúcia’s secret. The Catholic history vividly imparted in these interviews is the most compelling aspect of the book; scenes involving kidnappings, car chases, and the like are desultory and generic. There is some small entertainment to be had chuckling at the clichés (incorrigible rake Donovan is assisted by a gorgeous nun) and the frankly bizarre characterization of the Vatican as a sort of supernatural MI6, with the pope as a twinkly, kindly M and Donovan, a devout James Bond.
A rote Dan Brown knockoff, though well researched and often unintentionally amusing.Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5387-2124-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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