A promising setup about a defense lawyer facing her own limitations bogs down in obvious clues.
A former defense attorney comes out of retirement when her husband is charged with six murders.
Leslie Woodhouse is enjoying an early retirement in a beachfront Florida condo, whiling away the days with her companionable second husband, Robert, a former college art professor. She doesn’t much miss her career as a defense lawyer somewhat notorious for finding loopholes for her clients, but she’s thinking about it more as a story unspools in local news. Someone the media has dubbed the “Gulf Coast Killer” has abducted six people in towns near the beaches, apparently imprisoning them until they die of starvation and dehydration, then dumping the bodies. But the latest case is different: A 40-year-old woman was grabbed from the beach near Leslie and Robert’s home. She hasn’t been found, but her 8-year-old daughter got away—after getting a look at the abductor. Leslie has other things to worry about, though: Her beloved daughter, Stephanie Tressler, is off at her first year of college, and Leslie’s wealthy, flamboyant, but down-to-earth sister, Patricia Colton, has been diagnosed with cancer. Leslie also frets about Robert’s only family, his estranged son, Weston Adekins. The young man was born after Robert had a one-night stand with a student, and Weston fairly seethes with anger at Robert’s almost total absence from his and his mother’s lives. Leslie’s attention is forced to a focus when Robert is arrested and charged with the Gulf Coast Killer murders. The slight, mild-mannered 62-year-old seems an unlikely suspect, but the police make a serious case. The book has some suspenseful elements and makes skillful use of alternating first-person points of view. But the identity of the killer is clear early on, which makes maintaining suspense difficult. Some plot points stretch credulity: Would a court really permit a lawyer to defend her own spouse in a murder case? And a climactic chase brings some surprises but goes on so long it ends up dead in the water.
A promising setup about a defense lawyer facing her own limitations bogs down in obvious clues.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781668208656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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