This shrewd exploration of a killer’s mindset will unnerve and enthrall readers.
A serial killer cozies up to another murderer who’s been making headlines in this psychological thriller.
Former combat medic Max Mason now works as a nurse at the Carlson Brain Injury & Rehabilitation Center in New Hampshire. He’s also a serial killer, or so he confides to comatose patient Lincoln Douglas Raider. Lincoln’s injury was a simple fall while cleaning the gutters at his house. But his identity is a lot more complicated, as many people now believe he’s the media-dubbed “Huntsman” who has killed several women. Aside from the first victim, each woman has vanished, with her heart and an apple later turning up at her front door. Max becomes obsessed with talking to Lincoln about the psychopathic inclinations they presumably share. He likewise befriends Lincoln’s wife, Jolene, who asks Max for help with her recovering husband when he finally awakens. This gives Max the chance to learn all he can about Lincoln and his twisted mentality at the couple’s farm. But notwithstanding his recurrent nightmares of hurting someone, Lincoln doesn’t apparently remember certain events before his coma. Moreover, his love for Jolene and their newborn daughter looks genuine—hardly the behavior of a killer lacking empathy. As the evidence against Lincoln is circumstantial (he has a vague tie to each victim), Max can’t help but entertain the idea that this man isn’t a murderer. Getting closer to Lincoln could get him answers, but it’s sure to be precarious, as this supposed serial killer’s mind may be unraveling.
Sanders shrouds this mystery in ambiguity, a haziness that clears up as the story progresses. Max, for example, who says little about what he’s done as a serial killer, has a specific agenda in getting next to Lincoln. In addition, “The Captive,” an unnamed woman who’s the Huntsman’s seventh and latest victim, provides an intermittent narrative perspective. It’s not easy to sympathize with the cast members, including Max, until their personalities take shape much later in the novel. But the few supporting characters shine—the Martins, Lincoln’s neighbors who believe in the man’s innocence, and Det. Darby Albright, Max’s sister, whose first murder case as a rookie cop was one of the Huntsman’s unfortunate victims. Despite allusions to serial murders and even Max’s efforts to jog Lincoln’s memory of the brutal deaths, Sanders’ novel is only moderately graphic and instead is heavy on suspense. Uncertainty over what Lincoln may or may not have done makes him all the more frightening; readers are either getting a close-up of a psychopath or no clues to who or where the real killer is. The author churns out unforgettable, sometimes scary moments, such as Max literally getting stuck in a muddy cornfield: “I attempt to stand, and my feet sink deeper. Cold spring water pools and trickles down my legs, filling my shoes and adding to my weight. I’m up to my waist in mud and freezing.” The inevitable twists in the latter half, even if largely predictable, deliver a memorable and convincing final act, with an especially strong last scene.
This shrewd exploration of a killer’s mindset will unnerve and enthrall readers.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 321
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Red-hot storytelling.
Two master storytellers create one explosive thriller.
Mauna Loa is going to blow within days—“the biggest damn eruption in a century”—and John “Mac” MacGregor of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory leads a team trying to fend off catastrophe. Can they vent the volcano? Divert the flow of blistering hot lava? The city of Hilo is but a few miles down the hill from the world’s largest active volcano and will likely be in the path of a 15-foot-high wall of molten menace racing toward them at 50 miles an hour. “You live here, you always worry about the big one,” Mac says, and this could be it. There’s much more, though. The U.S. Army swoops in, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff personally “drafts” Mac into the Army. Then Mac learns the frightening secret of the Army’s special interest in Mauna Loa, and suddenly the stakes fly far, far beyond Hilo. Perhaps they can save the world, but the odds don’t look good. Readers will sympathize with Mac, who teaches surfing to troubled teens and for whom “taking chances is part of his damned genetic code.” But no one takes chances like the aerial cowboy Jake Rogers and the photographer who hires him to fly over the smoldering, burbling, rock-spitting hellhole. Some of the action scenes will make readers’ eyes pop as the tension continues to build. As with any good thriller, there’s a body count, but not all thrillers have blackened corpses surfing lava flows. The story is the brainchild of the late Crichton, who did a great deal of research but died in 2008 before he could finish the novel. His widow handed the project to James Patterson, who weaves Crichton’s work into a seamless summer read.
Red-hot storytelling.Pub Date: June 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780316565073
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.
A descendant of enslaved people fights a Florida developer over the future of a small island.
In 1760, the slave ship Venus breaks apart in a storm on its way to Savannah, and only a few survivors, all Africans, find their way safely to a tiny barrier island between Florida and Georgia. For two centuries, only formerly enslaved people and their descendants live there. A curse on white people hangs over the island, and none who ever set foot on it survive. Its last resident was Lovely Jackson, who departed as a teen in 1955. Today—well, in 2020—a developer called Tidal Breeze wants Florida’s permission to “develop” Dark Isle, which sits within bridge-building distance from the well-established Camino Island. The plot is an easy setup for Grisham, big people vs. little people. Lovely’s revered ancestors are buried on Dark Isle, which Hurricane Leo devastated from end to end. Lovely claims the islet’s ownership despite not having formal title, and she wants white folks to leave the place alone. But apparently Florida doesn’t have enough casinos and golf courses to suit some people. Surely developers can buy off that little old Black lady with a half million bucks. No? How about a million? “I wish they’d stop offering money,” Lovely complains. “I ain’t for sale.” Thus a non-jury court trial begins to establish ownership. The story has no legal fireworks, just ordinary maneuvering. The real fun is in the backstory, in the portrayal of the aptly named Lovely, and the skittishness of white people to step on the island as long as the ancient curse remains. Lovely has self-published a history of the island, and a sympathetic white woman named Mercer Mann decides to write a nonfiction account as well. When that book ultimately comes out, reviewers for Kirkus (and others) “raved on and on.” Don’t expect stunning twists, though early on Dark Isle gives four white guys a stark message. The tension ends with the judge’s verdict, but the remaining 30 pages bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780385545990
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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