Tag:

Multiple Timelines

Review

The Children

by Jeff Ayers

Book of the Week March 19, 2026

Guinevere and her brother, Ennis, have grown up in the shadow of their mother’s success. Edith Sharpe wrote five books in a magical series called The Ninth City, and they are beloved by millions. Their mom used their names for the main characters, and Guinevere and Ennis pretend to love the comparisons between them and their fictional selves. They’re often asked how wonderful it must be to have Edith as their mom, but the truth is that they had a horrible childhood of neglect and fear. They’ve kept their mouths shut for years, and now Guinevere has written a memoir about her childhood that is almost entirely fiction. Ennis works as a famous artist, and the two of them haven’t talked since a night when everything changed. When Guinevere learns about her brother’s newest exhibit, titled MOTHER, she worries that Ennis will reveal secrets that she’s not ready to have public. She begins to remember more as her life starts to unravel. Can she confront her brother and convince him to stay silent? Albert’s novel balances the line between gothic horror, high-stakes thriller, and a dark fairy tale. She uses words like a paintbrush, creating vivid images that will haunt the reader long after. Wow.—Jeff Ayers

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Simultaneous

by Jeff Ayers

Therapist Sarah Newcomb can’t get her fiancé to commit to a wedding date. Still, doubts about their relationship take a back seat when one of her clients reveals evidence of a potential copycat killer. Newcomb uses past-life regression to help her clients overcome trauma, but this patient unveils a time in the future, and this part of their divided soul works as a homicide detective. Trying to prove her client is making up material, she learns from that split soul of a natural gas explosion that will kill seven people in New Mexico the next day. The following morning, federal agent Grant Lukather from Homeland Security visits a site in New Mexico where seven people died in a natural gas explosion. He learns of a 911 call that came in the day before, warning of the blast. Tracing the phone number puts him in Sarah’s office. The twists and turns that follow are wild and completely unpredictable, and the story only gets better as it becomes increasingly complex. Heisserer received an Oscar nomination for screenwriting for the film Arrival, and he delivers the cinematic scope and intensity of a novel-writing pro. And the ending! It’s hard to believe this is his first novel, and readers will eagerly want more.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Whiteout

by Brian Kenney

I’ve always been a fan of ice thrillers, and Burnett’s Whiteout is perfectly terrifying in every way. When we meet Rachel, an Oxbridge scientist, she’s living alone in a tiny tent in Antarctica. She can’t reach anyone, and the only broadcast she can receive is a public service announcement from the BBC stating that there has been a nuclear attack and not to leave your home. But even if the world no longer exists, Rachel soldiers on, collecting samples every day, if only to retain a feeling of normalcy. There’s plenty Rachel doesn’t understand, but even more that the reader must struggle to put together. Add to this Rachel’s guilt-ridden memories of leaving behind her baby girl and husband and nature’s increasing violence that seems to want to destroy her, and you have a recipe for a meltdown. Burnett is a genius with pace, and the book gains speed as Rachel manages to push past one obstacle after another to the final confrontation. Pack all the down you have, you’re going to need it.

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail