by Mary Kubica Kirkus In trying to do the right thing, a woman puts herself and her family in danger—and is forced to take extreme action to protect herself. After a long shift at the hospital where she works as an ICU nurse, Meghan Michaels trudges through the cold Chicago evening to attend her divorce support group, where she’s surprised to run into Natalie Cohen, a woman she hasn’t seen since high school. While they were never close friends, Meghan encourages Nat to give the group a chance when she expresses doubts. She can’t help but notice the ugly bruise on Nat’s temple; having experience with victims of domestic abuse in her line of work, Meghan is concerned. She remembers a previous case when a battered woman came in to the hospital but refused to press charges; she was later murdered by her husband. Speaking of dangerous men, there has been a recent rash of attacks on women by a man who hasn’t been caught, so Meghan is particularly on her guard. She lives with her teenage daughter, Sienna, who’s often home by herself when Meghan is working. One of Meghan’s patients, a woman who purportedly jumped off a bridge and is now in a coma, may have been fleeing the assailant—and either fell or was pushed. These violent storylines converge over the length of a novel in which, of course, not everyone is who they seem. A twist is expected in any Kubica novel, and this one is pretty successful. Meghan is particularly strong and thoughtful, so she makes both an attractive protagonist and a formidable antagonist for those who will threaten her and her family. She has her secrets and will do anything to protect them, but she also has a sense of justice. Ultimately, she wants to make the world a safer place, and the novel encourages us to view that as a worthy goal, whatever the path. Interrogates and exposes the everyday fears that women face—while still checking all the thriller boxes. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Book list Kubica’s ninth thriller (after Just the Nicest Couple, 2023) is twisty, addictive, and bingeable. In downtown Chicago, newly divorced, single mother Meghan Michaels is working full time as an ICU nurse and raising a teenage daughter. When a woman arrives in the ICU in a coma with a traumatic brain injury after jumping off a bridge, Meghan is assigned to her care. Soon, she finds herself getting too close to the patient and her family. Then, a witness reports that she saw someone push the patient off the bridge. And there's a serial killer on the loose. Meghan begins to fear that she and her daughter are now in danger. Could they be next? Kubica casts suspicion on many characters while creating palpable tension, eventually connecting the perfectly paced plotlines into a satisfying conclusion. The ICU-nursing profession is well researched and represented through Meghan’s character. Kubica explores themes of complex mother-daughter relationships, kidnapping, domestic abuse, serial killers, and suicide. This suspense-thriller will fully engage readers and leave them guessing until the very end. From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. Library Journal The best-selling Kubica's (Local Woman Missing) latest thriller is her best one yet, with multiple twists and unreliable characters that will hold readers until the nail-biting end. ICU nurse Meghan Michaels already works full-time and is a single mom to a teenage daughter, but her life gets even more complex when she gets too involved with a new coma patient named Caitlin. Caitlin is an adult woman who attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge onto train tracks. Now a witness to the incident has come forward, with details suggesting Caitlin was pushed. The more invested Meghan gets, the more she puts herself and her daughter in danger. To make matters worse, there's an unidentified man who has been robbing and raping women in the area, and Meghan becomes afraid of everyone around her as strange things start to happen. Kubica is a mastermind of fast-paced stories and complex characters that readers can immediately invest in and relate to. Her protagonists experience contemporary problems and make difficult and sometimes questionable decisions. VERDICT Highly recommended to any libraries serving thrill-seeking readers who enjoy a good medical mystery that turns sinister.—Lacey Webster (c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
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