A strong addition to the Banks series that suggests tantalizing possibilities for the next installment.
Investigating the murder of a mob-tied developer and the possibly related rape of a young woman, DCI Alan Banks finds himself in the crosshairs of the Albanian Mafia.
At the center of the investigation is Zelda, a sex trade survivor on whom Yorkshire's Banks developed a major crush in Many Rivers To Cross (2019)—an attraction he can't act on since she's the romantic partner of one of his best friends. Abducted at 17 from an orphanage in Moldova and horrifically abused for years, she has been using her skills as a super recognizer to help Britain's National Crime Agency track sex traffickers. But a cloud of suspicion hangs over Zelda—real name Nelia Melnic—following the unsolved murder of a Croatian trafficker who violated her and her possible involvement in another killing. While Banks looks into the murder of the developer, his female colleagues DI Annie Cabbot and DC Gerry Masterson trace the history of the rape victim until the dots between the two criminal cases connect. The plot, which also features a Banks nemesis from the past, may be one of Robinson's knottiest. Full pages are devoted to the volleying of questions about possible motives and methods and what led to a suicide. But Robinson pulls the reader in with deft characterizations, powerfully understated action scenes, and strong locales—while leaving space for this amateur musicologist's usual legion of song and album references. The title of the book is taken from a Bob Dylan song included on the mortality-obsessed album Time Out of Mind. For Robinson, it would seem, things can never get dark enough.
A strong addition to the Banks series that suggests tantalizing possibilities for the next installment.Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-299495-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
IN THE NEWS
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.
Hired to find the father of celebrity “muffin girl” Traci Beller 10 years after his disappearance, PI Elvis Cole uncovers a nefarious plot that puts his life and those he contacts at risk.
The sweetly likable Traci, now 23, has amassed a huge following with her website, The Baker Next Door, and on social media. Against the advice and self-interest of the people who over-manage her career, she decides to find out what happened to her father. Cole quickly determines that he was last seen at the SurfMutt hamburger stand, where he gave a ride to Anya Given, a troubled 15-year-old whose mother, Sadie, was late in picking her up from the skate park across the street. With the reluctant help of a scattered young woman who used to work at the burger joint, Cole tracks down Anya and Sadie, who is eventually revealed to have a criminal past. For his efforts, he’s jumped by a small gang of men who send him to the hospital with the worst beating of his life. (Asked by a nurse what his name is, the best he can guess is “Los Angeles.”) Still in recovery, Cole and Joe Pike, his ex-Marine partner, trace his attackers to Sadie, with unexpected results. As ever, Crais draws the reader in via his protagonist’s casual, dryly humorous manner and the book’s relaxed ties to classic noir. Slowly but surely, the plot gains intensity and deadly purpose. Just when you think the missing persons case is solved, Crais ratchets things up with a devastating follow-through. This is the L.A. novelist’s 20th Cole mystery, following such efforts as The Watchman (2007) and Racing the Light (2022). It may be his most powerful.
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780525535768
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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