Compelling characters stop at nothing to achieve their ends in this very contemporary thriller.
In Manning’s novel, a mother seeks revenge on those she blames for her daughter’s death.
Patricia is a middle-aged, single mother whose newlywed only daughter, Ashley, died after being denied a medically necessary abortion. Ashley’s husband, David, is suing Ashley’s doctor, the hospital, and the hospital’s lawyer, Brenda Phillips, who plans to run for office on a conservative, pro-life platform. Patricia plans a more drastic action: murder. But when she uses a stolen identity to become the Phillips family’s housekeeper, Brenda’s uncaring behavior toward her young children sparks Patricia’s motherly instincts, giving rise to conflicted feelings about her intentions. A second plotline involves Brenda’s high-school sweetheart, John Petersen, now a male-chauvinist religious fanatic who believes murder is justifiable to save the unborn. A third thread is devoted to Lisette “Lizzie” Vaughn, a private investigator (Lizzie and her assistant, Murphy Green, a Black, trans ex-cop, have their own complicated backstories), and a fourth follows Isabella Ramirez, a single mother with a heart condition who believes her unplanned second pregnancy could kill her (and whose wimpy ex-husband, Wyatt, has joined John’s group of radical anti-abortionists). The various strands converge when Isabella and her young daughter, Nina, go missing, and her friend Ethan calls Lizzie rather than go to the police (“A young woman should be sympathetic to the plight of a woman whose pregnancy could kill her”). The novel brings together a memorable cast of characters to highlight the potentially deadly consequences of “pro-life” activism as the narrative alternates between the points of view of Patricia, Lizzie, John, Isabella, Brenda, and others. Each character sees only part of the picture, resulting in multiple vectors of suspense that keep the reader hooked. Additionally, seeing each character’s actions through their own individual lenses provides a more nuanced consideration of the social and moral issues that drive their decisions and actions. Manning presents complicated heroes with dark sides and villains who, while they are less multi-dimensional, also have redeeming qualities. The portrayals of Lizzie and Murphy suggest they might be poised for further adventures.
Compelling characters stop at nothing to achieve their ends in this very contemporary thriller.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781645995630
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.
What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?
In the first page and a half of her latest page-turner, bestselling Australian author Moriarty introduces a large cast of fascinating characters, all seated on a flight to Sydney that’s delayed on the tarmac. There’s the “bespectacled hipster” with his arm in a cast; a very pregnant woman; a young mom with a screaming infant and a sweaty toddler; a bride and groom, still in their wedding clothes; a surly 6-year-old forced to miss a laser-tag party; a darling elderly couple; a chatty tourist pair; several others. No one even notices the woman who will later become a household name as the “Death Lady” until she hops up from her seat and begins to deliver predictions to each of them about the age they’ll be when they die and the cause of their deaths. Age 30, assault, for the hipster. Age 7, drowning, for the baby in arms. Age 43, workplace accident, for a 42-year-old civil engineer. Self-harm, age 28, for the lovely flight attendant, who is that day celebrating her 28th birthday. Over the next 126 chapters (some just a paragraph), you will get to know all these people, and their reactions to the news of their demise, very well. Best of all, you will get to know Cherry Lockwood, the Death Lady, and the life that brought her to this day. Is it true, as she repeatedly intones on the plane, that “fate won’t be fought”? Does this novel support the idea that clairvoyance is real? Does it find a means to logically dismiss the whole thing? Or is it some complex amalgam of these possibilities? Sorry, you won’t find that out here, and in fact not until you’ve turned all 500-plus pages. The story is a brilliant, charming, and invigorating illustration of its closing quote from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (we’re not going to spill that either).
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593798607
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
Expert, but unsurprising.
The death of an old friend who was more than a friend sends Dr. Kay Scarpetta down her latest rabbit hole.
If every body tells a story, the corpse of 7-year-old Luna Briley sings the blues. On top of the many signs of ongoing physical abuse, there’s the fatal gunshot wound to her head. Ryder and Piper Briley, the wealthy and powerful parents who didn’t call the police until after their daughter died, insist that Luna’s death was an accident, or maybe a suicide. Scarpetta doesn’t think so, and her refusal to release the body to the Brileys’ hand-picked mortician moves them to legal action against her as Virginia’s chief medical examiner. You’d think it would be a relief to put this case aside for another when Scarpetta’s niece, Secret Service agent Lucy Farinelli, calls her and ferries her by helicopter to an abandoned Oz theme park owned by Ryder Briley, but this one’s even more heartbreaking. Scarpetta is there to examine the body of astrophysicist Sal Giordano, her close friend and former lover, who was evidently kidnapped, held in captivity for several hours, and tossed out of an unidentified aircraft. The leading suspects are the Brileys; Carrie Grethen, Lucy’s sociopathic ex-lover, with whom Scarpetta has repeatedly tangled in the past; and the UFO that dumped Giordano’s body without leaving the usual traces for air-traffic technologies to pick up. The multiple rounds of physical examinations Scarpetta conducts on both victims are every bit as meticulous and gripping as fans would expect; the killer’s identity is neither surprising nor interesting, but Cornwell juggles her trademark forensics, and the paranormal hints she’s become increasingly invested in, more dexterously than usual.
Expert, but unsurprising.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781538770382
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
BOOK TO SCREEN
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