A bleak family story that’s both unnerving and enthralling.
Dark, sinister forces surround a seasonal carnival and its disturbing owner in this debut supernatural novel.
The Marivicos Summerlong Carnivalé Festival is a popular event in the American city of Kayjigville. Papa Marivicos took over the carnival from his father, but his son, Eddie, is less enthusiastic regarding the family business. In fact, a little over two years ago, Eddie ran away, met a woman, and got married only for Papa to track him down and bring him back. But since returning, Eddie has apparently developed telepathy. Displaying his gift at the carnival attracts large crowds, though the overload of people’s thoughts tends to make him physically ill. Eddie finds solace in Lexi, who works at a local brothel and whose thoughts, for some reason, he mercifully can’t hear. Elsewhere in Kayjigville, Papa may have competition. Businesswoman Clara Guadali is certain the riverboat Commodora will draw the carnival’s patrons. But Papa is more formidable and diabolical than Clara anticipates, thanks largely to a particular book he possesses. Inside the tome are “indescribable words” that, when written in a “blood-ink inscription,” give Papa specific abilities that may surpass Eddie’s. These can be lethal powers when there’s a threat like Clara, who, in addition to taking some of his business, attempts to blackmail Papa with something she believes to be incriminating. Meanwhile, a gangster’s son tries using Eddie’s gift for his own selfish benefit. As these people’s acts ultimately jeopardize the Marivicos family, Papa’s response is potent and leaves many bodies in its wake.
Grass’ novel is mostly grim. Papa, for example, is an appalling man, with or without potential magic, and Eddie’s efforts to drown out others’ thoughts include drinking, which isn’t always effective. But parts of the book alleviate this somber tone, such as Eddie’s understated and genuinely appealing romance with Lexi. And Eddie’s carnival pal Abakoum provides some humor—his delightful ramblings showcase a refreshing bluntness. The author highlights the story with a discernible theme of fatherhood. This is bolstered by the inclusion of Dr. Chain (pronounced “Kha-Yeen”), whose simple trip to the carnival finds him embroiled with the Marivicoses. Since Dr. Chain wants children (which he and his wife are unable to have), he essentially becomes a surrogate parent to Eddie, whose father is relentlessly vicious and cruel. As the tale progresses, it elucidates Papa and Eddie’s history, which involves that enigmatic book and strained familial ties. The narrative also turns increasingly violent, and later scenes entail viscera, severed limbs, and accompanying deaths. Throughout the tale, Grass’ prose displays a sharp, confident voice flavored with indelible metaphors. Eddie, experiencing a new power, “felt as though fingers ran along the backs of his eyes, fingers laced with gunpowder—igniting and burning the insides of his orbits, flaring in excruciating bursts.” Despite illuminating moments, the narrative retains a fair amount of ambiguity, allowing for an ending that, while definitive, is open to interpretation.
A bleak family story that’s both unnerving and enthralling. (acknowledgements, author bio)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73588-850-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dickinson Publishing Group
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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