A tense, action-packed tale of snarling teeth, razor-sharp claws, and entertaining mayhem.
In this debut horror novel, a law enforcement couple and others fight to escape a facility crawling with terrifying monsters.
Boston detective Vic Mitchum worries about his fiancee’s new undercover gig. Jujitsu-trained police officer Kelsey Moss can take care of herself, but posing as a sex worker is dangerous business. Sadly, someone grabs her, and Vic’s frantic search turns up nothing until he returns to a videographer’s crazy theory that he’d dismissed earlier. Kirby Cronin noticed that around the time local sex workers or homeless people vanish, a “club” for billionaires comes to town. This apparently leads to cycles of disappearances, and now Kelsey is the fourth missing person. As Vic hunts for an underground facility tied to the nefarious club, captive Kelsey and two fellow prisoners search for a way out. But no one can anticipate what truly awaits them down there—a chilling collection of aliens, undead things, cryptid creatures, and more. When these monsters run amok, Vic, Kelsey, a few allies, and some billionaire survivors struggle to stay alive and get themselves aboveground. Parker builds effective suspense in the kinetic novel’s first half; the villains are immediately clear, and certain chapters focus on Kelsey’s concocting an escape plan. Nevertheless, the highlight is a prolonged, exhilarating final act that showcases legendary beings such as the Jersey Devil, the wendigo, and the Sasquatch (“Its shape was of a large human, except for the arms, which appeared longer”). The cast is a balanced mix of heartless characters who deserve their dismemberments and sympathetic individuals, including ultra-cool Kelsey and a wealthy, potential club recruit harboring doubts about joining. Readers will recognize all the featured creatures even if they merely resemble something else (for example, a giant, tentacled beast). Parker drops them into a tautly written story that runs full tilt. While it’s unsurprisingly bloody, this hectic narrative is more about following hasty escapes than lingering on the gory bits.
A tense, action-packed tale of snarling teeth, razor-sharp claws, and entertaining mayhem.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2022
ISBN: 9798218027759
Page Count: 339
Publisher: Sandcastle Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2022
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
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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