A veteran Swedish detective is forced to revisit the most disturbing case of his career.
After Detective Ewert Grens carried 5-year-old Zana Lilaj from the scene of her family’s massacre, he investigated the crime in vain, even with Zana as an eyewitness. Seventeen years later, DI Grens, who’s on the verge of retirement, can’t refuse the request of his abrasive boss, Mariana Hermansson, to investigate a burglary that's just occurred at the same address. His hopes that this is a coincidence are dashed when he discovers that his notes on the earlier crime have been stolen from the locked police archive. He soon determines that Zana’s life is in danger. Meanwhile, former police informant Piet Hoffmann revels in the domestic bliss of life with his wife, Zofia, and their three young children following his criminal past. All this is shattered when he sees his son Rasmus playing with a hand grenade that arrived in a package addressed to the boy. This unsubtle message is followed by even more literal and threatening ones. After Piet takes his family into hiding, he appeals to his old friend Grens. Although Roslund deftly brings the two cases together, readers hooked by the high stakes and urgency in the early chapters may be impatient with set pieces and narrow escapes that feel like smoke. When Grens finally locates Zana in a new location with a new identity, he’s in for a surprise that adds yet another wrinkle to the case.
Roslund’s fourth has punchy prose and plot twists that readers expecting another brooding Scandinavian noir won’t see coming.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-18821-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE
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In December 1926, mystery writer Agatha Christie really did disappear for 11 days. Was it a hoax? Or did her husband resort to foul play?
When Agatha meets Archie on a dance floor in 1912, the obscure yet handsome pilot quickly sweeps her off her feet with his daring. Archie seems smitten with her. Defying her family’s expectations, Agatha consents to marry Archie rather than her intended, the reliable yet boring Reggie Lucy. Although the war keeps them apart, straining their early marriage, Agatha finds meaningful work as a nurse and dispensary assistant, jobs that teach her a lot about poisons, knowledge that helps shape her early short stories and novels. While Agatha’s career flourishes after the war, Archie suffers setback after setback. Determined to keep her man happy, Agatha finds herself cooking elaborate meals, squelching her natural affections for their daughter (after all, Archie must always feel like the most important person in her life), and downplaying her own troubles, including her grief over her mother's death. Nonetheless, Archie grows increasingly morose. In fact, he is away from home the day Agatha disappears. By the time Detective Chief Constable Kenward arrives, Agatha has already been missing for a day. After discovering—and burning—a mysterious letter from Agatha, Archie is less than eager to help the police. His reluctance and arrogance work against him, and soon the police, the newspapers, the Christies’ staff, and even his daughter’s classmates suspect him of harming his wife. Benedict concocts a worthy mystery of her own, as chapters alternate between Archie’s negotiation of the investigation and Agatha’s recounting of their relationship. She keeps the reader guessing: Which narrator is reliable? Who is the real villain?
A compelling portrait of a marriage gone desperately sour.Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Categories: HISTORICAL FICTION | LITERARY FICTION | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE
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The 10th installment in the Gray Man series begins with a dent in the hero’s armor and revs up with nonstop action.
Court Gentry, aka the Gray Man, is recovering from a stab wound, and he really needs to get some rest. He’s tired and badly weakened, not yet fit for operational duty, but the CIA’s off-the-books contract killer is “wholly unaccustomed to free time.” Soon he’s in Caracas, trying to spring his comrade in arms Zack Hightower from a Venezuelan prison. Then he’s off to Germany to deal with a possible coordinated attack on Americans in Berlin. Gentry, whose CIA code name is Violator, is that rare killer with a heart, so he takes only “righteous and worthy” assignments and does them right. His CIA boss congratulates him on one assassination, saying “You put a warhead on his forehead.” Gentry’s in love with Zoya Zakharova, a field operative also working for the CIA, but gunning down bad guys keeps both too busy for a meaningful relationship. Meanwhile, a sultan in the United Arab Emirates can hardly wait for his father to die of cancer, and an Iranian Quds sleeper agent plots mayhem in Berlin. Evildoers abound in this bloody thriller, including Americans. But the star of the scum is Maksim Akulov, who works for the Russian Mafia and whose target is Zakharova. Think of Akulov as the Gray Man without the moral compass. The title aptly fits the plot, as the hero scarcely takes a breather. There’s enough bloodshed to pour into two thrillers, and author Greaney doesn’t spare the good guys. Gentry’s body is “racked with pain and exhaustion” much of the time, but he is relentless. And Zack gets more than scratched while he thinks that “fighting a robot attack would be one badass way to go.”
Not for the squeamish but a jolt for thriller junkies.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-09895-0
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Categories: THRILLER | ESPIONAGE | POLITICAL, MILITARY & TERRORISM | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE
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