A mesmerizing family tale, as compelling as it is artfully bizarre.
In this novel, a medical student is kidnapped—an experience that proves both emotionally illuminating and harrowing.
Hanna Bloom is a highly motivated overachiever—the valedictorian of her high school class, she’s accepted into Northwestern University’s prestigious seven-year medical program. Her goal is to become a doctor just like her father, Roger, an objective she pursues doggedly to the exclusion of a normal social life—she never bothers to make close friends, and she enters college a virgin. But her ambitious career plans are waylaid unexpectedly when she’s abducted by a woman—she comes to know her only as Mama—who blames Roger for the death of her husband, Charlie. From the beginning, Hanna’s relationship with Mama is terribly complex—on the one hand, the woman is her captor, but on the other hand, she is her “protector.” Mama shields Hanna from the sexual harassment of Luke and Chris, two of her three sons. In a bizarre enactment of what Mama considers biblical morality, she chillingly explains her plan for revenge: “In the Bible it says a tooth for a tooth. Instead of killing you, I’ve decided that you will marry one of my sons and have his children. In that way, my husband’s legacy will continue, and your family and mine will be even.” Hanna chooses Ben, the gentlest of the available options. Goldsmith sensitively examines the peculiar psychological transformation of Hanna, who comes to love Mama and Ben and embrace her new life, as well as the difficulty her parents experience coming to grips with her choices. The author’s writing style is plain and poetically unembellished, even bordering on anodyne. But the plot has a strange power of its own—it is by turns unsettlingly creepy and psychologically captivating. Hanna’s own mental health is tantalizingly presented as an unanswered question—readers are left to decipher her extraordinary decisions, and for that reason, the story will haunt them long after finishing the novel.
A mesmerizing family tale, as compelling as it is artfully bizarre.Pub Date: May 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781669860938
Page Count: 211
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back—but all, of course, is not what it seems.
Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails—first his book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident—and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story.
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781250337788
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.
Hired to find the father of celebrity “muffin girl” Traci Beller 10 years after his disappearance, PI Elvis Cole uncovers a nefarious plot that puts his life and those he contacts at risk.
The sweetly likable Traci, now 23, has amassed a huge following with her website, The Baker Next Door, and on social media. Against the advice and self-interest of the people who over-manage her career, she decides to find out what happened to her father. Cole quickly determines that he was last seen at the SurfMutt hamburger stand, where he gave a ride to Anya Given, a troubled 15-year-old whose mother, Sadie, was late in picking her up from the skate park across the street. With the reluctant help of a scattered young woman who used to work at the burger joint, Cole tracks down Anya and Sadie, who is eventually revealed to have a criminal past. For his efforts, he’s jumped by a small gang of men who send him to the hospital with the worst beating of his life. (Asked by a nurse what his name is, the best he can guess is “Los Angeles.”) Still in recovery, Cole and Joe Pike, his ex-Marine partner, trace his attackers to Sadie, with unexpected results. As ever, Crais draws the reader in via his protagonist’s casual, dryly humorous manner and the book’s relaxed ties to classic noir. Slowly but surely, the plot gains intensity and deadly purpose. Just when you think the missing persons case is solved, Crais ratchets things up with a devastating follow-through. This is the L.A. novelist’s 20th Cole mystery, following such efforts as The Watchman (2007) and Racing the Light (2022). It may be his most powerful.
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780525535768
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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