by Robert Bailey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2022
Workmanlike and consistently absorbing but not spectacular except for that eye-rolling epilogue.
An Alabama personal injury lawyer who seems to have modeled his professional and personal life on Better Call Saul is called on for his first criminal case.
Nobody disputes a few simple facts: That handyman Waylon Pike was carrying on an affair with his frequent employer Jana Waters; that he killed her husband, Dr. Braxton Waters; and that he confessed as much first to a casual acquaintance and then to the police. What’s under debate is whether the $15,000 Pike received for the murder came, as he told the cops, from Jana Waters, who just happened to withdraw that exact sum from her bank the day before, or from someone else. For most residents of Guntersville, this debate is purely theoretical since they’re sure that Jana hired her adulterous husband’s killer. Even Jana’s brother, billboard-loving attorney Jason Rich, finds it hard to believe that his long-estranged sister isn’t guilty. But he’s moved to defend her by the tearful pleas of her daughters, Niecy and Nola, whom he hasn’t seen for years, and by a more pressing threat by local drug king Tyson Cade, who’d taken advantage of Jana repeatedly to defer her payment of the $50,000 she owed him for his product. Cade doesn’t want Jana to testify in her own defense, and he really doesn’t want his own name to come up in the trial. So he demands that Jason not take the case, letting it go to a less-motivated appointed attorney, or if he does take the case, that he keep Jana off the stand. The obstacles would be formidable even for an experienced criminal defense attorney; a novice like Jason can only pray for a miracle. Bailey conscientiously sweats the details all the way to a dazzling but not entirely persuasive double-twist ending.
Workmanlike and consistently absorbing but not spectacular except for that eye-rolling epilogue.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-3727-3
Page Count: 379
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
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by Janet Evanovich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2024
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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by Alex Michaelides ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 2019
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
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New York Times Bestseller
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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
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