An inventive, multi-layered horror novel structured around a cryptic document.
In Blackhurst’s debut horror novel, a lawyer attempts to understand a mass death event and avoid becoming one of its victims.
In 2017, two hunters in Kentucky came across a dead town; ‘dead’ in the sense that all of the residents—hundreds of them— seem to have been killed in a freak landslide. The event came to be known as the Carrington Tragedy, even though no one is sure that the town had been called Carrington (in fact, before the hunters stumbled across it, the outside world was entirely unaware of the town’s existence). The sole record of the town, and of what happened to it, is a series of 33 canvases, found buried in the rubble, on which a man called Richard Maltessouri had scribbled a difficult-to-decipher diary. The first entry begins, ominously, “I wish the marionettes would stop trying to break through the windows. Incredible. I’m not entirely convinced I’m still alive.” Though it’s unclear whether Richard was sane—or even real—his account implies Carrington suffered something closer to a massacre than a natural disaster, even if the claims in the barely legible diary (written in a hard-to-read paint called “tint”) are difficult to parse. Along with a colleague, lawyer Joseph Blackhurst travels to the Carrington site in an attempt to decrypt the demented diary, hoping that his efforts at transcription do not end, as previous attempts have, in catastrophe. The book is a metafictional puzzle, with two texts unraveling side-by-side: that of Richard Maltessouri and that of the fictional Blackhurst. The real-life Blackhurst writes them both with the kind of neurotic restraint that hints at larger, unspoken forces. “I should come clean,” confesses the character Blackhurst early on. “In a footnote, I wrote that no part of the Canvases would be edited or omitted during transcription to preserve a complete record of the evidence. However, certain inconsequential edits will be made at the decision of the Committee.” It’s a fun puzzle of a book, reminiscent at times of Mark Z. Danielewski’s work, creeping slowly from confusion to delightful terror.
An inventive, multi-layered horror novel structured around a cryptic document.Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9798988484318
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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