A blueprint for the next evolutionary step in genre-hybridized fiction.
A mentally unstable former artist sees colors invisible on the normal spectrum and is plagued by ghosts in Hincker’s novel, the second in a series.
Once considered the most talented young artist in Skysill Beach—an art colony / tourist trap on the Southern California coast populated by artists who work with ultraviolet light—Gale is now an alcoholic who can barely hold down his job authenticating real paintings from forgeries because of his bad attitude, almost constant state of inebriation, and his frequent seizures, which he calls “storms.” When Gale is approached by a wealthy art collector and tasked with traveling to Los Angeles to have a potentially invaluable canvas authenticated—a painting that was allegedly done in 1492 by an Italian artist who painted with “higher colors”—Gale leaves the confines of Skysill Beach for the first time in his life and quickly realizes that the ghost (of a woman who died by suicide) who has been haunting him, his sexually charged relationship with a psychic, and his mysterious past are all entangled in a grand-scale conspiracy that includes the end of time itself. An intriguing premise, deeply developed characters, masterful worldbuilding, an impressively intricate storyline, and some bombshell plot twists at the novel’s end make this a virtually unputdownable read. Gale’s self-deprecating, razor-sharp wit (“…my strengths are introspection and getting drunk…”) gives the story an added layer of literary appeal. At the height of an intense scene in which antagonistic characters meet, Hincker throws in this great line: “For a second no one spoke because it would’ve wasted the stare down.” Though the various narrative elements, when considered separately, aren’t exactly groundbreaking, cumulatively the storyline has a wonderfully fresh and innovative feel.
A blueprint for the next evolutionary step in genre-hybridized fiction.Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9798987630174
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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