A consistently compelling war story that expertly balances multiple plotlines and perspectives.
Rosenthal presents a World War II–era adventure novel, set mostly in the Yucatán jungle in the 1940s.
Early on, a frame story introduces an elderly Solly Meisner living in North Carolina in 2008, exasperating both his daughter, Izzy, and his full-time caregiver with his stubborn independence. During an episode of dementia, he begins to reveal long-kept secrets about his past that lead Izzy, a retired archaeologist, to question everything she think she knows about her family. Most of the story, however, takes place in 1941, in the months before the invasion of Pearl Harbor and shortly after Solly has, by chance, survived a bombing that targeted his band of brigadistas fighting in the Spanish Civil War. A U.S. government agent with the Office of the Coordinator of Information sends Solly to spy on suspected Nazi activity in Mexico, blackmailing him into doing so by threatening to expose Solly’s record as a Communist Party member and revolutionary fighter in Spain. The young lawyer accepts, but he’s certain that the mission will end with his death. In a dilapidated hacienda in the Yucatán, he meets three other Jewish exiles who’ve fled horrors in Europe, some bored expats, and, eventually, Nazi operatives. In addition to chapters from the perspectives of Solly and Izzy, readers get scenes in diary entries of Solly’s aristocratic ex-lover, Estelle, and from the point of view of Grace Weintraub, a Hollywood script doctor. Each narrative voice is distinctive, and the characters and settings throughout are beautifully drawn, from care facilities to remote hotels: “The first-floor patio was abuzz with chatter, a flurry of waiters running around like mad, supplying distraught guests with mineral water or spirits.” The various mysteries unfold at a gratifying pace, and the frame story generates tension between the past and present; readers get action sequences worthy of 1940s Hollywood, as well as an examination of the lingering effects of past choices.
A consistently compelling war story that expertly balances multiple plotlines and perspectives.Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781647428501
Page Count: 328
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
