A fizzy whodunit with pace, panache, and surprises galore.
The killing of a famous author turns a faithful protégé into a fanatic sleuth.
Australian college student Theodosia Benton has abruptly left her university in Sydney and moved to the United States with the intention of becoming a writer. When she shows up unannounced on the doorstep of her older brother, Gus, in Lawrence, Kansas, she interrupts a romantic moment he's having with a half-dressed woman named Pam, who beats a hasty retreat. Such rashness leads to the kind of sibling spats and banter that propel this story and make for a compellingly unpredictable protagonist. When she meets writer Dan Murdoch at a restaurant, Theo quickly manages to become his friend and avid writing student. Then Dan is murdered, and his agent, Veronica, hires Theo to find his killer, who also apparently snatched the manuscript of Dan’s latest novel. The tale presents two intertwined mysteries. First, who slew the renowned author? Second, who are all those people with quirky screen names who comment on the murder at the beginning of most chapters? This latter thread is introduced through Caleb, someone who vaguely touts the rise of something called The Shield and the revolutionary plans of its leader, Primus. Caleb’s quest to discover the identity of Primus proceeds in tandem with Theo’s. He comes to believe that Dan was Primus, but was he? Primus is just the tip of an identity iceberg that includes Space Monkey, Frodo 14, Patriot Warrior, and others. Fans will rejoice that the prolific Gentill, author of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries, maintains her record of packing stand-alone novels with devilish twists on genre conventions.
A fizzy whodunit with pace, panache, and surprises galore.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781728285184
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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