A grim and engrossing procedural with a stellar cast.
A convict takes over her identical twin sister’s life in New Orleans, only to arouse the suspicions of a clever, intuitive detective in Zappa’s debut thriller.
Veronica Westbrook has never met her twin, Ann Livingston, as they were adopted at birth by two separate families. While serving time in prison for running a con on a woman with Alzheimer’s disease, Veronica receives a letter from Ann, who hopes that they can connect. Veronica has no interest in a reunion, but she does respond favorably to the fact that Ann has a wealthy husband, Ben. She concocts a plan to steal her sister’s identity, which, soon after her release, entails shadowing and then murdering Ann. Veronica subsequently fakes a car accident and resultant amnesia—as Ann—so she can convince Ben and his family of her identity long enough to swipe millions. However, homicide detective Tammy Jo Crowder thinks that there’s a possibility someone ran “Ann” off the road, but as she investigates further, she starts to think that the accident victim intentionally drove her car into a tree. Then she finds a notable discrepancy in some medical records suggests that the woman claiming to be Ann isn’t Ann. Ben, meanwhile, is also wary, as he’s noticed subtle differences in his wife’s personality. Complicating Veronica’s plan further is that fact that her former cellmate, Sarah Booth, is out of prison; she’s privy to the con and demands a piece of the pie. After transferring funds to a Swiss bank account, Veronica stages a suicide for a clean escape. But the cautious Crowder digs deeper to prove Veronica is on a crime spree.
Zappa fills this often somber but energetic tale with wonderfully complex characters. Veronica isn’t a one-note villain; she’s a sociopath who doesn’t experience a normal human range of emotion, and the story touches on her background (namely, regarding her and Ann’s biological mother). At the same time, Crowder isn’t a squeaky-clean hero; at one point, for instance, she acquires the aforementioned medical records illegally. She’s nevertheless an admirable detective who resists when her superiors want to close the case; readers will, of course, cheer her on, knowing that her conjectures are often spot-on. As Veronica’s scheme ultimately takes her out of the United States, new characters appear to great effect, including someone who’s gunning for the con woman, Will Goodman. The dialogue-heavy story predominantly consists of Veronica executing con-game manipulations and Crowder mulling over case details, but it generally maintains a fast pace. Indeed, Zappa largely eschews graphic depictions of sex and murder. Even during the final act, which includes confrontations between multiple characters, the author doesn’t linger on violence. Unfortunately, there are some blunders that are particularly noticeable as the detective delves into the twins’ history. For example, the age of Ann’s daughter, Meg, doesn’t match her date of birth.Although this novel works as a stand-alone, the author leaves open the possibility of a sequel.
A grim and engrossing procedural with a stellar cast.Pub Date: July 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-922329-04-2
Page Count: 356
Publisher: AIA Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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