This novel falls just short of its ominous premise but will beguile readers with its captivating characters.
A mysterious stranger at a cabin door sets off a series of explosive events in Cobb’s moody mystery.
Jack Pate is awakened one night by the sound of barking dogs to discover a disheveled stranger at the door of his isolated cabin in North Georgia. “Let’s just say I’m a friend you didn’t know you had,” the stranger says. The well-spoken but gruff-looking man immediately sets off Jack’s suspicions as he resembles Eric Rudolph, the real-life Centennial Olympic Park bomber—but Jack’s curiosity overpowers his hesitation about letting the man stay. The stranger identifies himself as Yardley Bennett and claims to know Jack from their mutual hometown of Villa Rica, Georgia, where the two led surprisingly parallel lives. However, before Jack can get more information, Yardley vanishes, leaving only a note behind. Just as Jack is trying to track down the mysterious figure, he learns of a recent deadly explosion only miles from his cabin. Strangely, Jack has been haunted by explosions and fires throughout his life. As Yardley begins to taunt Jack with sudden reappearances and cryptic gifts, Jack finds himself the prime suspect in the most recent conflagration, leading him to question his memories, his family, and his own sanity. Cobb crafts a creepy central premise that will engross readers from the first page. Yardley’s wit and erudite vocabulary (“Waggish. Puckish. That’s me,” he announces playfully), juxtaposed with his resemblance to a domestic terrorist, creates a spooky, almost supernatural figure; he’s as intriguing as he is menacing. Through flashbacks, Cobb explores Jack’s past, slowly weaving in the true, grisly details of the Olympic Park explosion while also hinting at more sinister events in Jack’s family’s past. The effect is a thrilling unease as readers question just how trustworthy Jack is as a narrator and how comfortable they should feel with him. Unfortunately, the eventual revelations and twists feel rushed and out of step with the eerie setup, but mystery fans will still appreciate Cobb’s fresh, unsettling ideas.
This novel falls just short of its ominous premise but will beguile readers with its captivating characters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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