An uneven historical thriller that features a compelling central relationship.
A crime-fighting couple’s consuming love for each other is put to the test when they’re recruited to identify a global counterfeiter in Haddon’s sequel.
After husband-and-wife team Tommy and Hannah Sinclair break up a human trafficking ring and a drug-dealing operation, the FBI asks them to use their skills and talents for a new mission. An international counterfeiting organization of unknown origin has emerged in the United States, France, and Italy, and the pair must determine who’s behind it. Tommy has an eidetic memory, which will be useful when it comes to dealing with bank-note serial numbers, as well as a handy background as a gambler and Mafia associate. Hannah, 14 years his junior, is his able partner, but she’s not pleased that this new assignment may require him to seduce the counterfeiter’s vulnerable wife. “She’ll fall in love with you,” Hannah cries. “I won’t let that happen,” he responds. Hannah has a dangerous role to play in the undercover operation, as well, although she’s only recently recovered from injuries from the previous mission; she’s also wrestling with the psychological trauma of a miscarriage. Nonetheless, like Tommy, she’s ready to get back to work. Haddon dutifully fills in backstory for readers who may be unfamiliar with the first volume in this series, and the beginning passages will quickly hook them: “We haven’t heard from [the FBI] for over a year. The last time was when I shot Lord George Gillingham.” Tommy and Hannah are a disarmingly charming couple to find at the center of a tale of global intrigue. However, Haddon’s scene-setting is less skillful, as one never gets a sense of the era in which the story takes pace; indeed, it’s only in the author’s “Final Thoughts” that readers learn that the tale is set in the ’50s. Romance fans, however, will warm to Hannah’s intense devotion to Tommy and the couple’s passionate (and graphic) bouts of lovemaking; readers’ mileage may vary, though, when Tommy tells a willing Hannah, “I want to leave my mark on you so you won’t forget me while I am away.”
An uneven historical thriller that features a compelling central relationship.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64628-819-9
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Tensile Press
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.
A descendant of enslaved people fights a Florida developer over the future of a small island.
In 1760, the slave ship Venus breaks apart in a storm on its way to Savannah, and only a few survivors, all Africans, find their way safely to a tiny barrier island between Florida and Georgia. For two centuries, only formerly enslaved people and their descendants live there. A curse on white people hangs over the island, and none who ever set foot on it survive. Its last resident was Lovely Jackson, who departed as a teen in 1955. Today—well, in 2020—a developer called Tidal Breeze wants Florida’s permission to “develop” Dark Isle, which sits within bridge-building distance from the well-established Camino Island. The plot is an easy setup for Grisham, big people vs. little people. Lovely’s revered ancestors are buried on Dark Isle, which Hurricane Leo devastated from end to end. Lovely claims the islet’s ownership despite not having formal title, and she wants white folks to leave the place alone. But apparently Florida doesn’t have enough casinos and golf courses to suit some people. Surely developers can buy off that little old Black lady with a half million bucks. No? How about a million? “I wish they’d stop offering money,” Lovely complains. “I ain’t for sale.” Thus a non-jury court trial begins to establish ownership. The story has no legal fireworks, just ordinary maneuvering. The real fun is in the backstory, in the portrayal of the aptly named Lovely, and the skittishness of white people to step on the island as long as the ancient curse remains. Lovely has self-published a history of the island, and a sympathetic white woman named Mercer Mann decides to write a nonfiction account as well. When that book ultimately comes out, reviewers for Kirkus (and others) “raved on and on.” Don’t expect stunning twists, though early on Dark Isle gives four white guys a stark message. The tension ends with the judge’s verdict, but the remaining 30 pages bring the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Fine Grisham storytelling that his fans will enjoy.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780385545990
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
A stunning, engaging subversion of the Bundy myth—and the true-crime genre.
This thinly veiled fictionalization of Ted Bundy’s attack on a Florida State University sorority begins with the horror rather than making it the climax.
As president of her sorority, Pamela Schumacher is used to staying up late to deal with paperwork while her sisters are out partying. The night of Jan. 15, 1978, is no different. Jarred awake at 3 a.m. after having fallen asleep with her clothes on, she hears running footsteps and sees a man heading for the front door. He can’t see her in the shadows—a fact that turns out to save her life, rendering her the only eyewitness to a horrible crime and a notorious criminal, “a man who murdered thirty-five women and escaped prison twice.” The novel goes on to follow several alternating timelines: From Pamela’s perspective, it builds from the day of the sorority murders and also follows her return trip to Tallahassee more than 30 years later in response to a mysterious letter. These chapters are interspersed with the 1974 story of Ruth Wachowsky, believed by her girlfriend, Tina Cannon, to have been one of the killer’s earlier victims. Knoll makes an interesting—and powerful—choice not to name Bundy at any point; Pamela asserts that she “vowed to stop using [his name]” because “there isn’t anything exceptionally clever” about him. Choosing not to name him deflates the myth of the monster, of the charmer, of the criminal genius that people often consider Bundy to be. As the title indicates, this novel belongs to the women: the ones killed because they were too kind to reject an “injured” man asking for help; the ones who lost people they loved; the ones who ultimately had to look him in the eye and not let it destroy their lives. There are twin threads of mystery that lead readers through the maze: the rumor of a suppressed confession tape and Ruth’s story. But in the end, it’s the latter that’s so much more important than the former. In this world of true-crime mania, Knoll knows that every choice—and every name—matters.
A stunning, engaging subversion of the Bundy myth—and the true-crime genre.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781501153228
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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