A notably entertaining caper that will keep readers hooked on King’s books.
In King’s 10th crime novel in his Travelers series, the heroes are always one step ahead of their often inept adversaries.
Randy and Jodi Sutton (whose names are both aliases) are professional grifters in Putney, Ohio, with plans to blackmail a vulnerable prosecuting attorney, Terry Brighton. For this, they reluctantly enlist Brighton’s regular escort, college student Chrissie Makarova, who’s involved in sex work only so she can afford special extras for her mother, who’s in a nursing home. Things quickly fall apart, which sets the tone for this fast-moving tale. Brighton fights back against the Suttons’ plan with the help of a compromised FBI agent named Joe Smith, who’s very good at what he does. The rest of the plot brings in additional bad guys, hair’s-breadth escapes, and technological wizardry. At one point, the action moves from Ohio to Chicago for a diamonds-and-cash heist, which turns out just as difficult as the blackmailing scheme. It’s no spoiler to say that Randy and Jodi eventually end up miles away from the scenes of their crimes, having survived yet again, luxuriating in a hot tub and planning their next caper; the novel’s appeal is in how they get away. King has been telling tales of these characters for a while and he knows how to deliver punchy, clipped dialogue: “She’s an escort. She’s already in the game—just not our game.” He’s also has created a classic husband-and-wife team whom readers will love to watch in action; they’re are vaguely Robin Hood–like figures in that they steal from the morally compromised, although the poor will have to wait until the Suttons get their cut. Some of the action strains credulity, but that’s part of the fun, as are the nailbiter escapes. Randi and Jodi’s job isn’t for the faint of heart, which is why this cool duo—who never, ever panic—is so good at it.
A notably entertaining caper that will keep readers hooked on King’s books.Pub Date: July 27, 2023
ISBN: 9781952711152
Page Count: 198
Publisher: Blurred Lines Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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