If only the FBI didn’t fly its agent everywhere by private jet, she’d be sitting atop a mountain of frequent flyer miles.
Special Agent Daniela Vega of the FBI goes hunting for a most unusual treasure.
Though Gustavo Toro was a highly professional hit man, he had a conscience, and when he’s betrayed and murdered on orders from his latest employer, he turns out to have left a surprising legacy: an encrypted video meant to be watched by the FBI director in which he reveals that he’s squirreled away details on his long history of murders for hire and hopes that the authorities will find that information and put it to good use. Because he was concerned that this trove might fall into the wrong hands, though, Toro made it exceptionally difficult to find, and when Dani is given the job of uncovering it, every clue she follows seems to lead to a dead end or a dead informant because “someone is cleaning house.” Along the way, Dani’s campaign against the murky Exmyth Technologies leads to a turf war between Special Agent in Charge Steve Wu, head of the FBI’s New York office of counterterrorism, and Scott Hargrave, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York office, with Dani caught in the middle. At length a lead sends Dani to the Lost Dutchman’s Mine in Arizona, where she finds the crucial lead she needs. Even then, however, the author and the crime lords she’s created continue to spark so many violent new complications that Dani constantly has to call on her training as a U.S. Army Ranger. She longs to wrap up the case, which takes quite a while to wind down even after the climax, and get back to the business of helping her mother emerge from the fog that’s kept her in Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric ward for the past 10 years.
If only the FBI didn’t fly its agent everywhere by private jet, she’d be sitting atop a mountain of frequent flyer miles.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781662515835
Page Count: 348
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
