An engrossing and satisfying mystery with a humble Texas physician/sleuth at its heart.
The death of a child shocks a tightly knit community and sparks an intense homicide investigation in this series opener.
Veteran Houston physician and debut author Bishop kicks off a medical thriller series featuring Texas family man and orthopedic surgeon Jim Bob “Doc” Brady. It’s the spring of 1994, and Brady hears a “sickening thud” and the screeching of tires behind his house in what is typically a peaceful neighborhood. He discovers 10-year-old Stevie Huntley, a neighbor’s son, crushed in the street, the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Immediately labeled a vehicular homicide, the case is assigned to local detective Susan Beeson. Without leads, Beeson leans on the Brady family for discreet assistance and insider information on the neighborhood. His conversations reveal that Stevie had a bone fragility disease and raise the suspicion that the homicide was premeditated. And when medical colleague T. Edmund “Ed” Wilson begins acting with uncharacteristic aggression, Brady fears something more nefarious is afloat. Shaken but unbroken by the tragedy, the resilient Doc Brady aims to help police solve a crime that, as things progress, involves genetics, adoptions, and the extended Huntley family along with some heinously dishonorable intentions. Bishop never lets genetic jargon overwhelm the story’s momentum as more suspicious deaths occur and the race to bring the perpetrators to justice becomes everyone’s top priority. Greed—not surprisingly—figures into the plot. Though the action ignites from the opening pages, Bishop incrementally introduces his characters, including Brady’s computer-savvy son, J.J., and the doctor’s wife, Mary Louise, with whom he shares a playful intimacy. Brady is a naturally warmhearted first-person narrator, describing events with urgency while incorporating homespun nuances and clever banter. With a marked absence of gore, graphic violence, or offensive language, this novel gives readers an intriguing puzzle to solve yet not an overly complicated one, opening his readership to a young adult audience as well.
An engrossing and satisfying mystery with a humble Texas physician/sleuth at its heart.Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73425-110-4
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Mantid Press
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
A unique story of transcendent love.
An aimless young musician meets the girl of his dreams only to have his newfound happiness threatened by several inexplicable—and possibly supernatural—events.
The story opens as Leeds Gabriel meets with a detective while his girlfriend, Layla, is restrained in a room one flight above them. Through the interview, readers learn that Leeds was wasting both his time and his musical talent playing backup for a small-town wedding troupe called Garrett’s Band when he spied Layla dancing her heart out to their mediocre music at a wedding. When Leeds approaches Layla, their connection is both instant and intense. A blissful courtship follows, but then Leeds makes the mistake of posting a picture of himself with Layla on social media. A former girlfriend–turned-stalker wastes no time in finding and attacking Layla. Layla spends months recovering in a hospital, and it seems the girl Leeds fell for might be forever changed. Gone is her special spark, her quirkiness, and the connection that had entranced Leeds months before. In a last-ditch effort to save their relationship, he brings Layla back to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. When they get there, though, Leeds meets Willow, another guest, and finds himself drawn to her in spite of himself. As events unfold, it becomes clear that Willow will either be the key to saving Leeds’ relationship with Layla or the catalyst that finally extinguishes the last shreds of their epic romance. Told entirely from Leeds’ point of view, the author’s first foray into paranormal romance does not disappoint. Peppered with elements of mystery, psychological thriller, and contemporary romance, the novel explores questions about how quickly true love can develop, as well as the conflicts that can imperil even the strongest connections. Despite a limited cast of characters and very few setting changes, the narrative manages to remain both fast-paced and engaging. The conclusion leaves a few too many loose ends, but the chemistry between the characters and unexpected twists throughout make for a satisfying read.
A unique story of transcendent love.Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-0017-8
Page Count: 301
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
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