They all fall down

Miriam Macy is at the end of her rope. Misunderstood by her beloved daughter, suffering panic attacks, and out of work since her employer decided enough was enough, she leaps at the chance to join a reality show on a lavish Mexican-island estate. From the beginning, though, things aren't right. Just making it through airport security as a black woman is a harrowing ordeal, and when Miriam gets to the island, things go rapidly downhill, with guests one by one meeting horrible mischief. Though some of the secondary characters aren't made distinct enough from one another, which may prove confusing, those who give Hall's fifth novel (after City of Saviors, 2017) a try will stick with it for the compelling story and a more diverse set of characters than one typically finds in mysteries. The book is a solid recommendation for patrons looking for something after Fred Van Lente's Ten Dead Comedians (2017).--Henrietta Verma Copyright 2019 Booklist

This cleverly updated version of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None from Hall (A Quiet Storm) stars Miriam Macy, who's going through a difficult patch: her husband has left her for her teenage daughter's dance teacher, she has been let go from her job writing aspirational copy for a clothing catalogue, and she's wanted for questioning by the police for reasons that only become gradually clear to the reader. The one person who has shown her any understanding is her lawyer, Phillip Omeke, and now he's not taking her calls. When she receives an invitation out of the blue to participate in the pilot of a new reality TV show, she sees it as a lifeline. She agrees to the show's conditions and flies from L.A. to Puerto PeA±asco, Sonora, Mexico, where a yacht is waiting to whisk her to exclusive Mictlan Island. The other invitees are a former policeman, a coke-sniffing chef, a snooty financial adviser, a nervous nurse, a bitchy lawyer, and a sexy merry widow, whose respective secrets emerge in tantalizing installments. When people start to die, Miriam turns sleuth. Hall slips from funny to darkly frightening with elegant ease. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A killer lures seven strangers to a remote Mexican island in this homage to And Then There Were None.When Miriam Macy receives an unsolicited invitation from "A. Nansi" to compete on a reality TV show set on Mictlan Island in the Sea of Cortez, she eagerly accepts; thanks to some unspecified legal woes and an emotional breakdown, the 45-year-old African-American divorce is unemployed and deeply in debt. But after a chartered yacht drops her off at the Artemis estate, Miriam learns some shocking news: She and the house's six other occupants were brought to Mictlan under an assortment of false pretenses by their lawyer, prominent defense attorney Phillip Omeke, whounbeknownst to themsuccumbed to brain cancer last month. Artemis was his house, and this gathering is his wake. While there's no cell service, Wi-Fi, or way home, more guests will supposedly arrive the following morning for a reading of Phillip's will, so the members of the groupincluding people from different races and backgroundsresolve to enjoy themselves and hope for an inheritance. The promised company never comes, though, and it's not long before those assembled start meeting untimely ends. Hall (City of Saviors, 2017, etc.) borrows Agatha Christie's broad strokes but employs fresh twists to keep readers guessing. Sex, drugs, and racial tension heighten the drama and create an additional layer of conflict, but the characters feel more like collections of tics and tropes than flesh-and-blood beings, lessening the tale's impact and robbing it of verisimilitude.Hall offers a soapy, modern take on a Christie classic. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.