A fizzy and fast-paced conclusion to a complicated family saga.
Gibbens concludes her multigenerational family drama series with this eventful thriller.
As this concluding volume in the author’s Awen Chronicles series opens, Nathan Bellamy, the art thief who served as the villain in the previous installment (Cow on Ice, 2022), sits in prison brooding over his revenge. Providentially, it seems to come in the form of his cellmate, a low-level crime syndicate enforcer named Tommaso, who agrees to use his contacts on the outside to effect the murders of the five people who brought Bellamy to justice, including Toronto architect Kent Gillespie; Bellamy’s former partner, Chloé Corbin; and Bellamy’s erstwhile girlfriend, art gallery owner Yoichi Song (“I’m tougher than I look,” Yoichi assures a friend. “Don’t let the manicures, facials, and wardrobe mislead you”). The text catches series readers up on all the jet setting and romantic goings-on of Gibbens’ large cast of characters, ranging from Bellamy’s list of murder targets to their current and former paramours, children, co-workers, and friends. The tangles of the plot involving powerful, plotting lawyer Langston Garner and surprisingly adventurous architect Kent Gillespie branch elegantly throughout the narrative. The author throws herself into narrating this sprawling, complicated story with tremendous gusto and a sharp skill at drawing characters: “Spencer liked desperation,” readers learn of Garner’s private investigator; “it fed his business enterprise. His clients were pushed beyond their limits by situations that had suddenly gotten out of hand—leading to desperation for them and opportunity for him.” This kind of quippy phrasing runs throughout the novel, although neither this nor the fleet pacing can save the proceedings from third-book syndrome: Too much of the plot will be all but incomprehensible to readers who aren’t familiar with at least the previous volume in the series. Newcomers shouldn’t start here.
A fizzy and fast-paced conclusion to a complicated family saga.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781039172432
Page Count: 366
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2026 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.
