A propulsive plot and engaging characters help make up for some awkward writing.
Buchanan’s third Sean McPherson novel again pits Sean “Mick” McPherson and the forces of good against the archvillain Georgio “The Bull” Gambino and his lethal henchmen.
This thriller begins when a hired valet is killed by a car bomb at Mick and Emma Benton’s wedding at the Pines & Quill retreat in the picturesque village of Fairhaven, not far from Bellingham Bay in Washington state. The backstory for the murder involves many killings—all orchestrated by the vengeful Gambino—including more than one attempt to kill Mick and Emma. The star of this particular show is Gambino’s protégé, Toni Bianco, a stone cold killer passing as a Bellingham police officer—not the only Gambino mole in the BPD. (Gambino’s soldiers are everywhere and can be identified by the “Family First” tattoo on their lower backs.) More violence ensues, in Bellingham, San Francisco, and New Orleans. After much violence and death and a bang-up conclusion, the good guys come out on top, but barely. The kicker, though, is that Georgio is still out there, untouched and plotting (of course, there is yet another sequel, Iniquity, in the works). All the backstory this requires isn’t always gracefully interwoven. What’s more distracting, however, is that as the plot unfolds, characters recount details that they—and readers—already know well from earlier parts of the book (“including Kevin Pearce, the valet who died in the explosion when he moved Mick and Emma’s Jeep at the wedding”). This kind of needless repetition happens more than once, and it feels not just odd, but oddly scripted. The characters’ speech can also seem unnatural: They speak not of “Gambino” but of “Georgio ‘The Bull’ Gambino,” as if respecting trademark law. That said, there are many engaging characters. Mick’s brother-in-law is a superb chef who prepares tantalizing dishes. Except for the occasional murder, the Pines & Quill seems a real Eden, lovingly described as such. And if Gambino is a ruthless antagonist, Buchanan lightens the plot with appealing palate cleansers such as a canine romance.
A propulsive plot and engaging characters help make up for some awkward writing.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-68463-194-0
Page Count: 312
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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
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