The Dark Maestro

This is Brendan Slocumb's "impressive third thriller" (Publishers Weekly). Here is the plot summary from Library Journal:

"Slocumb's (Symphony of Secrets) new novel, a musical literary thriller, illustrates the shady side of a life of crime but also the beauty of the strings in the symphony. Curtis Wilson is a child prodigy on the cello who received his instrument through a free school program. His father, Zippy, is a low-level drug dealer in Washington, DC, who doesn't have much time for his son. But Zippy's girlfriend Larissa sees and encourages Curtis's musical potential while gifting him the comic books he devours. While, Zippy's boss moves Zippy into a higher but sketchier business position, Curtis earns a spot at Julliard and is becoming known nationwide as a star cellist. Then his father turns state's evidence and the family is moved into witness protection, putting a hold on Curtis's skyrocketing musical career. The family comes together, however, while in hiding to create an online comic book called The Dark Maestro and to pick up where the FBI has left off on a quest for justice. VERDICT The twists of the story keep coming, and the thread of superhero comics and the Dark Maestro bring readers along on a journey that comic book fans will appreciate." 

Publishers Weekly concludes their favorable review by saying, "Slocumb effectively incorporates issues of class and race into the well-paced story, for example by prompting readers to wonder if Curtis would have to go so deep undercover if he were white instead of one of the few elite Black cellists. Though the narrative requires more than a little suspension of disbelief, it’s worth sticking around for the nerve-jangling climax. This is as stimulating as a well-played sonata."  Similarly, Kirkus offers thiese favorable closing comments: "This is an intricately plotted novel, paced perfectly by Slocumb, who keeps the book moving at a breakneck speed—but not at the expense of his beautifully drawn characters. Curtis, shy and sweet, is especially memorable; Slocumb paints a beautiful picture of the young man’s internal life. The final act of the book strains credulity, but who cares when you’re having so much fun? This novel should catapult Slocumb into the upper echelon of thriller authors. A virtuosic thriller."

Fever Beach

What to say about Carl Hiaasen's new book? It is the very definition of schadenfreude -- taking pleasure in the suffering of others. And we get to indulge this as Dale Figgo, ardent white supremacist, and his merry --and usually drunk or high-- band of brothers take a drubbing from the weather, a group of transgender performers, and wealthy eco-warrior Twilly Spree. Additional cast members are described by Booklist : "Dale Figgo, a right-wing nutcase who was too crazy for the Proud Boys; Viva Morales, who's renting a room from Dale, and whose bosses, a pair of alleged philanthropists [the Minks], are almost certainly up to no good; an ambitious and deeply corrupt congressman [Clure Boyette, "an apparent caricature of Matt Gaetz, though somewhat tame by comparison" according to the NYT]; Dale's mom, who isn't thrilled about what her son is doing with his life; and a bunch of other delightfully weird characters." They go on to close their review: "There is a serious story to be told about right-wing conspiracists, corrupt politicians, and shady philanthropists, and Hiaasen is sort of telling that story, but mostly he's making us laugh... This could be his funniest book yet."  Boyette plans to use the grant money received from the Minks to fund Figgo's group in a voter intimidation scheme, hiding this behind the public face of a home building scheme using child workers. The New York Times notes that Florida beat Hiaasen to the punch  as "the satire arrives pre-obsolesced by a reality even stupider and more depraved than the author dared imagine: The Florida Legislature recently considered a bill to legalize child labor to replace the holes in the work force left by waves of deportation." was somewhat more measured in their review, saying the book is "both feverish and beachy: a bottomless margarita...'Fever Beach' becomes finally a test of the reader’s own appetite for sanctimony and schadenfreude. As with the bottomless margarita, you’ll have to decide for yourself when enough is enough." Kirkus values what the book has to offer: "The perfect antidote for anyone who doomscrolls daily headlines: more crazed, rollicking, sharply written sendups like this." And Publishers Weekly concurs, "This funhouse-mirror satire offers welcome opportunities to laugh at the absurdities of 21st-century politics. It’s Hiaasen at his finest."

 

Wild Dark Shore

In this speculative climate fiction by Charlotte McConaghy, the story takes place on the sub-Antarctic island of Shearwater, home to the world' largest seed storage vault. Modeled on the actual island of Macquarie Island, located halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica, which does have a similar research station but no light house. The Salt family--father Dom, oldest son Raff, daughter Fen and youngest son Orly--are the caretakers of the island and have been ordered to prepare for evacuation as increasingly violent storms and rising sea levels are rapidly eroding the shoreline and taking the research facilities with them. During the worst storm they have ever experienced, they find a woman, Rowan, washed ashore and barely alive. As she is nursed back to health and becomes more integrated into the routine life of the family and the island, she forever alters the family dynamics. But everyone in this story is keeping secrets, secrets that may tear apart their newfound sense of hope. We don't get all the answers until the very end of the book. A predictable romance arises between widower Dominic and Rowan, but the ending is a surprise. The book is filled with delightful bits of obscure knowledge about plants and animals compliments of avidly curious Orly, and each member of the cast contributes their own viewpoints and experience in dedicated chapters. 

Library Journal closes their review with "As lush as it is taut with tension, this novel is filled with both the joys and ravages of nature." Publishers Weekly offers this: "McConaghy ratchets up the tension as the characters' paranoia and mutual suspicion increases and their motives are revealed,...McConaghy blends entertainment with a sobering message about conservation and the impacts of geographic isolation. Readers of climate fiction ought to check this out." The New York Times focuses on this observation: "In 'Wild Dark Shore,' we’re shown why a person might withdraw from the messiness of life after tragedy and trauma...The novel also offers its injured characters a path back to connection and community, a risk McConaghy argues must be worth taking, no matter how fraught the future, no matter how temporary the family. As Rowan reflects later in the novel: 'What is the use of safety if it deprives you of everything else?'" Kirkus opens their laudatory review with this, "The reality of climate change serves as the pervasive context for this terrific thriller..." and concludes by noting "While McConaghy keeps readers guessing which suspicions are valid, which are paranoia, and who is culpable for doing what in the face of calamity, the most critical battle turns out to be personal despair versus perseverance. McConaghy writes about both nature and human frailty with eloquent generosity. Readers won’t want to leave behind the imagined world of pain and beauty that McConaghy has conjured."