An unremittingly bleak, engrossing, and ferocious tale of an inevitable and potentially dangerous future.
A Vietnam veteran and an enigmatic woman hurtle toward an uncertain destiny in this dark, supernatural thriller.
Tennessee-born Amboy Stevens has made a life as a miner in Argentina. On an autumn day in 1982, he agrees to pay off a debt by helping fellow American Lettie Fennick. Lettie is a redheaded Black woman with partial amnesia and, just like Amboy, six fingers on each hand. While the Vietnam vet finds and brings Lettie to relative safety, myriad groups are apparently after her, from the CIA to a Nazi cult. Amboy is mostly in the dark; he doesn’t know what exactly the figures are chasing or if their intentions are noble or sinister. But he fights to protect Lettie as the two gradually fall for each other. They dodge gunfire, vicious torturers, and horrid, baleful creatures that appear to be made of sticks. Amboy and Lettie, desperate for answers, rush to a place where they hope to unearth the things she can’t remember. But what awaits the pair is not something Amboy likely anticipated. Ochse shrouds this novel in mystery. Notwithstanding Amboy’s distaste for “cryptic conversations,” he rarely has any other kind, as characters’ agendas are either vague or unknown. A rich atmosphere nevertheless permeates the story; everywhere Amboy and Lettie go seems treacherous and rife with untrustworthy people—dangers that some try to warn the vet about. The couple’s growing romance is convincing, while the engaging tale intermittently dives into Amboy’s past, some of which has curious ties to the present day. Short bursts of action, such as Amboy speeding down the road on a commandeered motorcycle, keep the story moving at a steady clip. And readers finally get some answers in the searing climax as Amboy and Lettie face their shocking fates.
An unremittingly bleak, engrossing, and ferocious tale of an inevitable and potentially dangerous future.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 342
Publisher: Aethon Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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