A riveting story with compelling characters—catnip for thriller fans.
A stolen religious relic drives the action in Kelly’s globe-trotting thriller.
Biblical archaeologist Maggie Shepherd leads a team in Bari, Italy, to extract a religious icon depicting St. Nicholas that the pope hopes to give to the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Moscow. But the relic is purloined after its extraction by a man named Malachi Popov for the Russian mob, and soon after that, it’s stolen again. This leads to the unlikely pairing of Shepherd and Popov, who, after some soul-searching and observing what he believes to be the power of the relic, is determined to set things right. The story takes them to Moscow, the Vatican, and elsewhere around Italy as they work to unravel the secrets of the relic itself, determine who took it (and why), and whether it will be found in time for the pope’s visit to Moscow. Along the way, Shepherd and Popov must contend with the highest echelons of the Catholic Church and Russian mob to recover the relic while coming to terms with their own personal and religious issues. (Shepherd believes their partnership is preordained, as readers learn when Popov disappears and she searches for him: “She believed God had brought the two of them together to find answers, and they needed one another to finish their work.”) The text extends to more than 400 pages, but the narrative moves swiftly, a testament to Kelly’s storytelling abilities. The author excels at creating compelling personalities, not only for the main characters such as Shepherd and Popov, but also for the colorful supporting characters—no one seems superfluous. The standout is Shepherd, who is flawed, fascinating, and ultimately heroic; she is certainly worthy of further literary adventures. Reminiscent of Dan Brown’s work but with a tone and momentum all its own, Kelly’s yarn will delight thriller fans looking for an exciting read.
A riveting story with compelling characters—catnip for thriller fans.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781637632550
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forefront Books
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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.
