An entertaining and complex spy story.
A deadly conspiracy forces a former couple back together as they race against time to save the world in Heary’s thriller.
Lorenzo Rossi, whose family owns an olive farm in Tuscany, last saw CIA agentCathy Doherty when she dumped him and ended their engagement. Now she’s come back into his life with shocking news: a Russian spy–turned–double agent for the CIA, Elena Trusova, was in a mysterious car accident just a few miles from Rossi’s house. Rossi, formerly the head of the Vatican Gendarmerie, is reluctant to enter into such a dangerous and complicated case, but he finds himself unable to resist. It looks like Trusova was headed to meet with Rossi, but if so, what did she have to tell him, and did it get her killed? As Rossi and Doherty are forced back together, they uncover layers of international secrets and double-crosses. For example, Trusova’s ex-lover Lucy Dirkwell is now the wife of a high-ranking U.S. Navy officer, and she knows more than she lets on. Francesca Gracco, Trusova’s neighbor, is acting oddly, and CIA Special Agent Rudy Pirlo was not only Trusova’s case officer, but also her lover. As Rossi and Cathy encounter more of Trusova’s acquaintances, the more they find themselves targeted by assassins—and on the international stage, a possible nuclear war is brewing. Heary has crafted a complex thriller that never disappoints. Its strongest asset is its dialogue, which flows naturally and reveals much about the large cast of characters. However, there’s a general lack of descriptive imagery and only sparse narration, which undermines the work as a whole. Rossi and Doherty feel like realistically complex characters and their romance is convincing; one will easily believe that they were once engaged and that there are still feelings bubbling beneath the surface. The more time they spend with each other, the more they can’t deny their old feelings, and as the mystery unfolds, they discover Trusova’s life was even more complicated than they thought. Overall, it’s their personal charm that keeps the dense mystery engaging and grounded.
An entertaining and complex spy story.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 289
Publisher: Matador
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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