Next book

THE FATAL FLAME

More fine work from a writer smart enough to know when a series has run its course. It will be exciting to see what the...

Concluding volume in Faye’s gritty, atmospheric trilogy (Seven for a Secret, 2013, etc.) about New York City’s fledgling police force.

It’s 1848, and “copper star” Timothy Wilde enters, pursuing loathsome Ronan McGlynn, who entices newly arrived Irish girls with the promise of jobs and delivers them to brothels to be forced into prostitution. His silent partner is alderman Robert Symmes, a Tammany Hall stalwart like Timothy’s brother Valentine and one of the many full-bodied characters who return from the two previous novels to pose ethical quandaries for our hero. Disgusted by Symmes’ offer of virgin fare as a political favor, Valentine decides to run against him in an election that threatens Tammany’s grip on New York, as abolitionist Barnburners like the Wildes face off against Hunkers who want to appease the slave-holding South. Also fulminating against Symmes is Sally Woods, a fervent feminist who may be setting fires in his factories to revenge his quashing of a strike by female garment workers, as well as a more personal betrayal. Timothy must identify the arsonist while grappling with his feelings for Mercy Underhill, the unstable love of his life, and Elena Boehm, the landlady who occasionally shares his bed. Once again, Faye paints a mesmerizing picture, aided by vivid use of the thieves’ slang known as “flash,” of a city in the crude, brutal early stages of capitalism and democracy, where little heed is paid to the poor and powerless—until election time. The mystery is wonderfully tangled yet resolved with clarity; among the many intriguing developments is the semiredemption of Silkie Marsh, the spurned madam who plotted against the Wilde brothers but now proves (somewhat) less evil than her smooth superiors at Tammany Hall. A stark, satisfying finale provides justice for some, but not for all, as befits this uncompromising portrait of a morally ambiguous world.

More fine work from a writer smart enough to know when a series has run its course. It will be exciting to see what the talented Faye decides to do next.

Pub Date: May 12, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-399-16948-9

Page Count: 480

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 235


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • New York Times Bestseller

Next book

DEVOLUTION

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 235


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • New York Times Bestseller

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 37


  • New York Times Bestseller


  • IndieBound Bestseller

Next book

THE SILENT PATIENT

Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 37


  • New York Times Bestseller


  • IndieBound Bestseller

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

Close Quickview