Engaging action and appealing characters propel this rousing novel.
A retired spy reunites with his team to combat vengeful killers in Howard’s short thriller-series starter.
Middle-aged former CIA case officer Jack Trench, now living in Monterey, California, is shocked when he hears that an old colleague in Atlanta has been gunned down. Footage of the crime is even more startling, as the shooter employs a signature technique of the Communist New People’s Army. In the Philippines in 1990, Trench’s specialized unit, known as the Watchers, had dealings with the NPA—a vicious organization known for its assassinations of government officials. Trench connects the Atlanta shooting with a recent homicide in the Philippines and comes to believe that his old team members are now targets. Indeed, it turns out that someone—who blames Philippine authorities and the CIA for his father’s incarceration—has been training to get bloody revenge against his enemies. It doesn’t take long for Trench to work out who’s after the Watchers, and he convinces his ex-boss Patricia Helliwell to reactivate his team so that they can seek their own brand of retribution. Howard, who used to work for the CIA and is the author of such nonfiction books as The Art of Executing Rōnin Leadership Strategies (2022), delivers a taut, action-oriented story in this thriller, which has a striking and likable cast. The Watchers are an appealingly diverse team with a range of useful skills; Trench is a former U.S. Marine, for example, and nerdy Quigley Street has a doctorate in criminal psychology. Moreover, the story lays out a solid foundation for its later action with a lengthy opening that unfolds in 1990 Manila before hopping to the present day. Howard’s unadorned prose complements this streamlined narrative. Genre fans may find a lack of surprises overall. However, the action scenes, including gunfights (“The shotgun boomed and a 12 gauge round shattered the big screen television in the room”) and fisticuffs, really pop. The story builds to an exciting, albeit rushed, final act and aptly sets the stage for a second installment.
Engaging action and appealing characters propel this rousing novel.Pub Date: March 17, 2023
ISBN: 9798987621707
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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