A smart, suspenseful novel that masterfully intertwines medicine, mystery, and morality.
Edwards’ medical thriller combines hospital politics, cybercrime, and the chilling return of a serial killer.
In 2018, Jack Forester, a dedicated physician and medical school dean at New Canterbury University, is already struggling with the loss of his wife and the overwhelming responsibilities of running a hospital when his world is upended. A financial crisis threatens to bankrupt the medical center, and as Jack investigates, he uncovers shocking mismanagement and possible fraud. His pursuit of the truth puts him at odds with powerful figures, including a ruthless cybercriminal with a vested interest in the hospital’s collapse. At home, Jack is a single father to a young daughter, Julia, who’s beginning to ask difficult questions about her mother whom she barely remembers. Meanwhile, his teenage niece, Kaitlyn, arrives in his care under difficult circumstances, offering him a challenge and an unexpected source of strength. Just as Jack begins to untangle the web of deception surrounding the hospital, his past returns to haunt him. A notorious serial killer with whom Jack has history is back, and this time, he’s targeting those closest to him. Edwards, a physician, crafts an authentic medical setting, from the daily pressures of emergency medicine to the behind-the-scenes power struggles that shape hospital operations. His attention to detail, such as the protocols of hospital administration and the psychological burden of caregiving (“What would she remember of her childhood? He hoped it wouldn’t be of the hours she spent wondering when he would come home”), lends the story credibility and depth. Jack is a compelling protagonist—flawed yet determined, battling personal grief and forced into roles he never sought. Kaitlyn, a rebellious but intelligent teenager with a hidden talent for baseball, adds emotional weight to the story, and their evolving relationship is one of the book’s most rewarding aspects. Julia, though younger, serves as a constant reminder of the life that Jack’s trying to hold together, making the stakes more personal. The tension builds steadily as the various threats converge, leading to a climactic confrontation.
A smart, suspenseful novel that masterfully intertwines medicine, mystery, and morality.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9798888246177
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.
Following her father’s sudden death, Aisling Swann is secretly horrified when her mother begins to date again—and she quickly becomes suspicious of this new flame.
Four years ago: A mysterious male narrator reflects upon his relationship with his wife—along with a few pointed comments about how she is aging. It quickly becomes apparent that this self-proclaimed “very pleasant” man is not who he seems; he already has a girlfriend on the side, and he’s playing both women with sob stories about his job and his traumatic past while taking money from them. Even as they get more and more frustrated with his lack of communication during ever-lengthening absences, he still gives them what they want: “a top-notch husband.” In the present day, Ash Swann; her brother, Arlo; and their mother, Nina, mourn the loss of her charismatic father, Paddy, a successful chef with a chain of lucrative restaurants. Nina receives a sympathy note from a man who claims to have worked closely with Paddy in the industry, which leads to a robust online flirtation that moves into the real world about a year after her husband’s death. Ash is living at home, mired in grief as well as her own mental health struggles, and she’s none too happy to see her mom dating—but particularly this handsome, egregiously suave Nick Radcliffe. Ash begins to notice some inconsistencies with his stories and his past, so she enlists Paddy’s ex-girlfriend Jane to help her investigate. Meanwhile, Ash’s story continues to intercut that of the mysterious man who is now married to his former girlfriend—and still up to his old tricks. Jewell’s cutting between past and present certainly allows revelations to ooze out at a slow, controlled pace; even as the reader makes obvious connections, the full picture remains obscure. Jewell has written some incredibly engaging and strong female characters, Nina, Ash, and Jane foremost among them. What would it have been like to split the narrative between them instead of giving so much voice—and thus narrative power—to the male antagonist?
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781668033876
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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