A woman’s dreadful, unpredictable love life proves riveting despite a largely unpleasant cast.
A divorced mother of three children finds herself accused of a crime she didn’t commit in this debut thriller.
Faith is still a teenager when she leaves her Georgia home and follows her older boyfriend to Austin, Texas. That romance doesn’t last, leaving Faith in a difficult situation: “I’m almost nineteen years old and I have nothing. I have a low paying job, no car, and an apartment I can’t afford.” Then she meets lawyer Ryan Brunick. The two marry and start a family. But sadly, they aren’t happy for long, with the subject of having more kids causing the most strife. Following a bitter divorce, Faith continues her cheerless existence until she meets a handsome businessman who’s CEO of his own company. They fall for each another, and Faith is the happiest she’s been in a long while. But everything changes when the couple take a “dream vacation” in Thailand. Authorities arrest her for a serious crime, despite her pleas of innocence, and threaten her with a severe punishment. Awaiting trial, Faith finds prison life harsh; she has trouble communicating, as few speak her language, and she can’t reach anyone, including her family, for help. When an unexpected person finally comes to her aid, she’s hopeful. But Faith’s trial brims with frustrating and surprising turns, signaling that freedom may be unattainable. Generally unlikable characters populate Holms’ tale. For example, none of Faith’s relationships end without lingering animosity. Even Faith, who narrates, implies she wants a third child with Ryan as a reason to continue staying home. As such, it’s hard to sympathize with anyone. Still, the smooth narrative meticulously follows Faith from her teens into her 30s. The author’s writing is at its strongest in describing the Thai prison. In one scene, Faith, despite her hunger, must force herself to eat the revolting prison food. While characters throughout are manipulative and deceitful, the gripping story effectively shows how damaging one apparently simple lie can be.
A woman’s dreadful, unpredictable love life proves riveting despite a largely unpleasant cast.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73619-081-4
Page Count: 341
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2020
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
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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