A dour but absorbing story about avaricious and disreputable characters.
A reformed convict aids law enforcement in a world teeming with corruption and moral ambiguity in Kyzer’s grim sequel to Brutus Nation (2016).
Kerry Douglas won’t have to serve the remaining four years of his prison stint thanks to the Athenian Union Interior Ministry, which has allowed him to join the United Vigilance. As part of this law enforcement group, he has free rein to make a “comprehensive strike against the criminal element.” He goes after the people who supply Athenia City’s citizens with the illegal drug NRG. Some unscrupulous types in his organization, however, have ensured that some NRG pills are coated with a lethal substance; this makes selling them a more serious crime, which allows law enforcement to hit drug pushers even harder. Elsewhere in the city, an owner of the professional sports team the Athenia City Grunting Hogs has a mysterious scheme underway involving the team’s co-owner, a drug lord who’s attempting to go legit. In addition, a local bookie chain is letting gamblers bet with home equity; those who lose too often also lose their houses. This particular venture, by the story’s end, links several characters’ stories together. Although Kerry’s battle against NRG ultimately turns explosive, Kyzer’s novel centers more on noir style than action. The narrative shifts through an impressive number of dubious characters, from a lawyer who works for a seasoned criminal to a couple of gambler friends roped in by the bookie chain. The author primarily establishes the cast members through dialogue—crisp exchanges packed with slang, offensive jabs, and humor, including numerous references to caffeinated energy drinks. There are a few scenes with multiple characters that are confusing and hard to follow due to the author’s minimal use of dialogue tags. The final act is somewhat predictable, but it resolves multiple subplots in a way that’s both satirical and convincing.
A dour but absorbing story about avaricious and disreputable characters.Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-8082-6
Page Count: 174
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The most cinematic Ruth Ware novel so far.
A reality TV paradise becomes a nightmare for the show’s unlucky contestants.
Lyla Santiago and Nico Reese have been dating for more than two years, and she’s beginning to feel like their relationship may be hitting a wall; she loves him, but his main focus at 28 is on his acting career, while, at 32, scientist Lyla is starting to dream about settling down. When Nico pleads with her to join him on a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, Lyla views it as an opportunity to see whether their relationship can go the distance—in reality as well as on TV. They arrive on a remote Indonesian island to find blue waters, white sands, romantic huts, and eight other contestants, all beautiful, glamorous, and clearly committed to bolstering their visibility by competing on the show. The director seems a bit shady; he insists (as their contract demands) that they turn in all electronics, plies them with booze, and then leaves with the crew—and the first ousted contestant. That night, a huge storm sweeps across the island. The next morning reveals a fatality among the wreckage: a hut and its inhabitant have been crushed by a tree, and the outbuildings have been destroyed. The remaining contestants are cut off from all communication, with the exception of one radio, and there is a very limited supply of food and water. So Love Island becomes Survivor, and one person in particular is set on being the last person standing. Ware offers another take on the locked-room mystery, but this time, her focus is less on creating a creepy atmosphere of dread, as she did in earlier novels, than on showing the absolute brutality of which some humans are capable. But she still has a good time herself: There’s a funny self-referential line to an earlier novel, plus some female characters MacGyver-ing a battery. The prolific Ware continues to stretch herself, taking on something new in each novel and writing strong—and increasingly kick-ass—female characters.
The most cinematic Ruth Ware novel so far.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668025598
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
More style than substance.
Michaelides takes a literary turn in his latest novel, employing an unreliable narrator, the structure of classical drama, and a self-conscious eye to dismantling the locked-room mystery.
The novel starts off with a murder, and with seven people trapped on an isolated Greek island lashed by a "wild, unpredictable Greek wind." The narrator, soon established as Elliot Chase, then zooms out to address the reader directly, introducing the players—most importantly movie star Lana Farrar. We meet her husband, Jason Miller, her son, Leo, and her friend Kate Crosby, a theater actress. We learn about her rise to fame and her older first husband, Otto Krantz, a Hollywood producer. We learn about Kate’s possibly stalling career and Leo’s plan to apply to acting schools against his mother’s wishes. We learn about Jason’s obsession with guns. And in fragments and shards, we learn about Elliot: his painful childhood; his May–September relationship with an older female writer, now dead; his passion for the theater, where he learned “to change everything about [himself]” to fit in. Though he isn't present in every scene, he conveys each piece of the story leading up to the murder as if he were an omniscient narrator, capable of accessing every character's interior perspective. When he gets to the climax, there is, indeed, a shooting. There is, indeed, a motive. And there is, of course, a twist. The atmosphere of the novel, set mostly on this wild Greek island, echoes strongly the classical tragedies of Greece. The characters are types. The emotions are operatic. And the tragedy, of course, leads us to question the idea of fate. Michaelides seems also to be dipping into the world of Edgar Allan Poe, offering an unreliable narrator who feels more like a literary exercise. As an exploration of genre, it’s really quite fascinating. As a thriller, it’s not particularly surprising.
More style than substance.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781250758989
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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