An often entertaining and timely crime novel.
A loathsome man is murdered, but the detective on the case keeps coming up empty in Williams’ mystery series installment.
When actuary Devin McDonald is murdered by a speeding car, the list of suspects is very long, indeed; he was an “overbearing, pompous windbag” seemingly despised by everyone at the insurance company where he worked. Police detectives Salvador Mitchelland Eddie “Sandman” Sandovan discover that terrorizing co-workers wasn’t enough for him; he was also a “prolific commenter” on social media forums, relentlessly antagonizing his interlocuters—a miserable example of “toxic disinhibition,” which leads the two detectives to wonder if he might have been killed by someone he offended online. Nonetheless, they’re at their wits’ end after failing to come up with any concrete leads. However, the killer, Kenneth Slocombe, a deeply disturbed man who considered his act of murder “righteous retribution” for Devin’s anti-social transgressions, is livid that his act hasn’t received more attention, and he decides to target Mitchell and Sandovan. Meanwhile, Mitchell faces a difficult moral dilemma when he discovers that Alastair Laing, the father of his girlfriend, Mya, is having an extramarital affair. Williams intelligently constructs a gripping crime drama, and it’s no less suspenseful for the fact that the identity of the killer is never concealed from readers. The principal weakness of the novel, however, is the characterization of Kenneth, who seems like a stale caricature; his sections are often a patchwork of clichés. Williams’ prose is often sharp—unadorned but dramatically effective. However, it slips into banality whenever Kenneth appears: “Kenneth went about his normal routine, wondering if his life would be different. He was, after all, a murderer. He had taken a life. Ended a fellow human being’s existence. Violated the most serious of the commandments.” Still, the story remains a captivating one that thoughtfully explores the way that online acrimony can transform into real-life violence.
An often entertaining and timely crime novel.Pub Date: July 25, 2021
ISBN: 979-8525735897
Page Count: 389
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
One of those rare triple-deckers that’s actually worth every page, every complication, every bead of sweat.
A routine break-in at the home of Sûreté homicide chief Armand Gamache leads slowly but surely to the revelation of a potentially calamitous threat to all Québec.
At first it seems as if nothing at all triggered the burglar alarm at Gamache’s home in Three Pines; it was literally a false alarm. It’s not till he receives a package containing his summer jacket that Gamache realizes someone really did get into his house, choosing to steal exactly this one item and return it with a cryptic note referring to “some malady…water” and “Angelica stems.” Having already refused to meet with Jeanne Caron, chief of staff to Marcus Lauzon, a powerful politician who’s already taken vengeance on Gamache and his family for not expunging his child’s criminal record, Gamache now agrees to meet with Charles Langlois, a marine biologist with ties to Caron who confesses to a leading role in stealing Gamache’s jacket. Their meeting ends inconclusively for Gamache, who’s convinced that Langlois is hiding something weighty, and all too conclusively for Langlois, who’s killed by a hit-and-run driver as he leaves. The news that Langlois had been investigating a water supply near the abbey of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups sends Gamache scurrying off to the abbey, where the plot steadily thickens until he’s led to ask how “an old recipe for Chartreuse” can possibly be connected to “a terrorist plot to poison Québec’s drinking water.” That’s a great question, and answering it will take the second half of this story, which spins ever more intricate connections among leading players that become deeply unsettling.
One of those rare triple-deckers that’s actually worth every page, every complication, every bead of sweat.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250328137
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
