A richly drawn, multipronged mystery set during a winter week in Maine.
Selbo’s tenacious Portland detective untangles a knot of related mysteries in this crime novel, the fourth in a series.
Dee Rommel is Portland, Maine’s newest minted private investigator. The former police officer with a distinctive prosthetic just passed the license exam, making her an even more valuable member of the team at G&Z Investigations. And just in time: The mysteries are piling up both at work and at home. For one, her mother Gayle, a top administrator at a prestigious cancer research institute, is being cyberbullied by one of her subordinates, but for some reason, she refuses to make a report. Then there’s Billy Payer, a murderer who once kidnapped Dee and is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence. He wants to meet, claiming he might have some information about an outstanding case. On top of that, while breaking up a domestic dispute in a restaurant parking lot on the way back from Boston, Dee has her luggage stolen by a violent woman who may be off her meds. Dee manages to get the bag back a few days later—only to discover that the thief, Gilli Wanz, has been brutally murdered. It turns out the unstable Gilli is a member of a farming family with deep ties to the area—and the owner of a block of dilapidated rental units in the midst of rapidly gentrifying Portland. Finally, Dee’s boss, detective Gordy Greer, has asked her to look into the death of a friend of his: local environmental activist Frank Croake, whose demise was initially ruled a suicide, though Gordy suspects foul play. Is there a connection between Gilli’s death and Frank’s? Dee’s work on both cases will force her to collaborate with her ex-boyfriend, current Portland police detective Robbie Donato, stirring up unwanted feelings along the way. Dee will need to keep her wits if she wants to solve the cases without losing any more limbs—and all during her birthday week, no less!
Selbo’s muscular prose captures both the particularities of the setting—snowy farms, locals suspicious of outsiders, seafood platters covered in Captain Mowatt’s Canceaux Sauce—and the guarded personality of her narrator. “I toss these observations around in my mind too often,” Dee acknowledges after a litany of shower-time thoughts about the nature of humanity and detective work; “nearly always as conversations between me and me because they take place when I’m home and alone.” Even so, there are satisfying moments of connection, or near connection, thanks to the large cast of characters, most of whom come with established histories. The author manages to deploy three books’ worth of backstory in a way that deepens this novel and helps the reader understand the way Dee operates. There is a vulnerability to the investigator—seen both in her romantic life and in her quest for a suitable prosthetic with which to run the Boston Marathon—rarely encountered in detective novels. Fans of the series will undoubtedly enjoy this volume, while new readers will be drawn in by the many intersecting plotlines and chilly, lived-in atmosphere.
A richly drawn, multipronged mystery set during a winter week in Maine.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781950627769
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Pandamoon Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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