A great detective story with a clever ending.
The detectives of the Criminal Investigation Division of Baltimore strive to find justice for the city’s grisly murders in Rieger’s thriller.
Det. Kev Dixit is covering for his sergeant’s medical leave and contemplating his future of being overworked and underpaid when he receives a call about a mysterious case. Det. Dinetta Laurence tells him they’ve found the dead bodies of a presumed couple in their home with no apparent signs of a break-in. The woman, later identified as Joanne Mattheisen, is found at the foot of the stairs with a gunshot wound. Her husband, Christian Mattheisen, is dead on the couch, killed by a shot to the head. There are also adhesive marks on his face, indicating his mouth was taped shut. They have no living relatives aside from an elderly great-aunt in Vermont who’s not interested in driving down to Baltimore to assist in funeral arrangements or the investigation. As Dixit digs further into the investigation with the assistance of lawyer Rainwater Wells, he discovers that Joanne and Christian were actually siblings, and that Christian had recently transferred money to the Cayman Islands. Dixit wants to put this case to bed as an argument gone wrong that concluded in a murder and suicide, but he continues to search for clues. Alongside the Mattheisen case is a flashback to October of 2000, when Dixit was investigating a possible pair of serial killers torturing women to death (“The crimes are almost identical. Glenda thought it was two perps. Neither said a word”). The author has crafted a masterful mystery novel with a story full of unexpected twists and turns. The intrigue is occasionally overshadowed by the large cast of characters—at times it’s difficult to differentiate between them all. But Kev Dixit stands out as a grounded and dedicated detective who’s both relatable and a hero worthy of praise. His determination to solve cases and find justice for victims highlights the importance of his work and supports the stakes of the mystery.
A great detective story with a clever ending.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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