Woods, who’s never been shy about recycling material from his hero’s earlier adventures, here reprises the plot of Carnal...
New York attorney Stone Barrington beds still another unsuitable partner and suffers the consequences—well, almost suffers.
Considering what catnip Stone (Fast and Loose, 2017, etc.) is to the ladies, he doesn’t always choose his conquests as wisely as he might, and when gossipy reporter Gloria Parsons, of the beguilingly named Just Folks, presses him for an interview about his relationship to Holly Barker, the new secretary of state and one of his long-term lovers, he can’t resist her 6-foot frame and other assets. Soon they’re making sweet music together, but remarkably soon after that, an admiringly smarmy description of him in her story sours it all, and Stone cuts her off. Gloria, not one to take rejection lying down, plots to reopen the murder case of Arrington Calder Barrington, the long-ago lover whose death left Stone filthy rich, so that she can smear Stone in the pages of Just Folks. When Stone finds an unexpectedly simple way to neutralize that threat, Gloria raises the stakes further, and so does Stone. As New York Gov. Benton Blake, the replacement lover Gloria seduced into commuting the sentence of her friend Danny Blaine when Stone declined to exercise his own influence on Danny’s behalf, gets ready to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Stone manages to wreck his plans as well, and without even leaving his fingerprints on the wreckage. It’s only a matter of time before Gloria’s resentment boils over to inspire the ultimate threat of revenge, and it’s the least convincing one of all.
Woods, who’s never been shy about recycling material from his hero’s earlier adventures, here reprises the plot of Carnal Curiosity (2014) and manages to resurrect some much older matter as well. The fade-out, however, promises new developments that follow a predictably inflated curve.Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7352-1711-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
© 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.
