Immersive and compelling—this neighborhood’s a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to die there.
In Reida’s mystery novel, a street in a tony Atlanta suburb acquires a well-deserved nickname: Murder Avenue.
Adelaide McKenzie can’t believe her good fortune: After growing up in a trailer park, she now resides with her handsome surgeon husband, William, in a huge white mansion that looks like a wedding cake, “the kind you don’t want to slice into because it’s too fancy to eat.” But happy as she is, she knows fairy tales aren’t real. Flaws and secrets, ranging from minor to major, abound in many of her neighbors, including Ray Willis (“There’s something almost reptilian about the way she blinks”); Helen Beecham, who waits each day for 4:00, “an acceptable time for her first Moscow Mule”; adulterer Conner Boyle; homophobe Beverly Grant; racist HOA president Pam Muenster; and Neo-Nazi Tripp Schulman. Faith Martin, earning money for college during her gap year, weaves in and out of the homes, doing housework and running errands for the residents. After an extravagant party, two of those people are murdered. Faith is shocked to find that after the murders there is no sign such crimes occurred (“everyone wants to pretend nothing bad can ever happen in a place like this”). But when the killings continue, tensions understandably ratchet up, as do accusations and media coverage. In addition to her evil characters, the author also provides quite a lot of laughs, even as the body count ramps up. (When resident Soon-Li Jung opts for a home elliptical machine instead of a gym membership, the device is only used to hold wet laundry: “It might not help with her heart rate, but it can dry six sweaters at once.”) The killings aren’t grisly and there are some sweet bits, but rough language keeps this mystery from being strictly cozy. A fast pace and a strong ending are welcome features.
Immersive and compelling—this neighborhood’s a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to die there.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781684429639
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Keylight Books
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.
Bloody murder spoils folks’ fun while megafauna return from extinction.
What a glorious way to spend a honeymoon: Mark and Olivia Gunnerson go backpacking through the vast Erebus Resort in the mountains of Colorado, where scientists have “de-extincted” species like the woolly mammoth and other Pleistocene megafauna. Just watch the peaceful beasts at their watering holes. Behold the giant armadillos, and the indricothere that make mammoths look like dwarfs. The scientists have removed genes for aggression in these re-creations, so humans will be safe unless they’re accidentally stepped on. And yet, someone doesn’t want the newlyweds camping there, made evident by their disappearance without a trace, save only a copious amount of blood outside their tent. Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent in Charge Frankie Cash takes the case. What happened to Mark and Olivia, and why? The park has no predators, so humans must be responsible. But where are the bodies? A doctor suggests that due to the amount of blood found, the victims may have—gasp!—been decapitated. The matter gathers national attention, and things only get worse as more people die. The late groom’s aggrieved billionaire father demands immediate answers, and of course he interferes with the investigation: “You’ll see me now, you son of a bitch, and tell me what the fuck you’re doing to find my son!” And speaking of F-bombs, surely it is possible to write a thriller with fewer—maybe use one or two to establish a character and then move on to more creative language? Anyway, the investigators are doing a lot. The action seldom lets up, and readers will feel the mounting tension and excitement. The setting itself is a scientific wonder, and it must tie into the murders somehow. Meanwhile, Hollywood is filming an action movie in the park, and the pièce de résistance will be the spectacular explosion of a train. But wouldn’t you know, Preston has other plans. Imagine Jurassic Park with the timeline brought forward to the Pleistocene, and you have the Erebus Resort. Science, imagination, storytelling, and action are all here.
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780765317704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.
Dexter meets Killing Eve in Wallace’s dark comic thriller debut.
While accepting condolences following her father’s funeral, 30-something narrator Claire receives an email saying that one of her paintings is a finalist for a prize. But her joy is short-circuited the next morning when she learns in a second apologetic note that the initial email had been sent to the wrong Claire. The sender, Lucas Kane, is “terribly, terribly sorry” for his mistake. Claire, torn between her anger and suicidal thoughts, has doubts about his sincerity and stalks him to a London pub, where his fate is sealed: “I stare at Lucas Kane in real life, and within moments I know. He doesn’t look sorry.” She dispatches and buries Lucas in her back garden, but this crime does not go unnoticed. Proud of her meticulous standards as a serial killer, Claire wonders if her grief for her father is making her reckless as she seeks to identify the blackmailer among the members of her weekly bereavement support group. The female serial killer as antihero is a growing subgenre (see Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer, 2018), and Wallace’s sociopathic protagonist is a mordantly amusing addition; the tool she uses to interact with ordinary people while hiding her homicidal nature is especially sardonic: “Whenever I’m unsure of how I’m expected to respond, I use a cliché. Even if I’m not sure what it means, even if I use it incorrectly, no one ever seems to mind.” The well-written storyline tackles some tough subjects—dementia, elder abuse, and parental cruelty—but the convoluted plot starts to drag at the halfway point. Given the lack of empathy in Claire’s narration, most of the characters come across as not very likable, and the reader tires of her sneering contempt.
Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780143136170
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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