A brisk and edgy tale of a young man struggling to do what’s right.
A petty criminal in 1970s New York City gets mixed up with an increasingly dangerous organization in this series-starting thriller.
Jake Barnum has spent most of his first 24 years in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood making trouble, mostly with minor thefts or nights that landed him in the drunk tank. At a Halloween party in 1978, he falls for Marilyn Monroe—or, rather, a woman wearing a mask that resembles the Hollywood star. This is her persona as part of the Desire Card, and she ropes Jake into the group, as well. The Card members, who all wear masks that look like celebrities, abide by a simple slogan: “Any wish fulfilled… for the right price.” Jake quickly learns that club activities aren’t very different from those in his criminal life, as they entail threatening people and dealing drugs. Things get more complicated for Jake when it turns out that his elderly, thuggish boss is the Card’s targeted rival. He finds it hard to trust anyone; some of the wishes that the Card fulfills involve murder, and someone in the organization is plotting a coup. Still, Jake is smitten with Marilyn, so if he wants to escape, he’ll need to find a way that they can both be safe. Goldberg, the author of Vanish Me (2022), offers a gritty, suspenseful story in this novel. Although the Card is a straightforwardly criminal organization, its members are mysterious and unnerving. They’re almost always masked, wearing a “frozen expression” that makes them even more dubious. Despite his flaws and wavering morals, Jake will garner readers’ sympathy; his ill brother, who relies on full-time care, needs surgery, and Jake fights to keep him and his best friend from harm. The author’s concise prose gives momentum to the narrative, which carries over into 1980. Copious pop-culture and historical references effectively ground the time period, from a beloved 1978 cinematic musical to news of the Iran hostage crisis. A doozy of an ending lays out a fairly clear path to the next series installment.
A brisk and edgy tale of a young man struggling to do what’s right.Pub Date: June 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68549-085-0
Page Count: 278
Publisher: Rough Edges Press
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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