Argentinian-born author Axat fuses weird fiction with psychological suspense in his stunning U.S. debut, set in the Boston area. Terminally ill businessman Ted McKay is about to shoot himself when a stranger named Justin Lynch shows up at his house with a proposal: kill a criminal who escaped justice and an innocent man who wants to die, and in return, someone will kill him, sparing his family the shame of his suicide. Ted carries out his end of the deal, only to learn that Lynch lied about the circumstances surrounding both victims. As Ted searches for the truth, strange dreams and inexplicable events cause him to question his sanity, leaving Ted and the reader uncertain as to what is real and whom to trust. Nightmare imagery, mind-bending plot twists, and a kaleidoscopic storytelling style lend Axat's tale a vertiginous air, but at the core of this literary fever dream lies an elegantly crafted and emotionally resonant mystery that astonishes, devastates, and satisfies in equal measure. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Carrying out a canny plan to kill two victims plunges a man into a world in which events and characters, including his own, change like visions in a haunted kaleidoscope.Whatever may be said for or against Argentinian author Axats American debut, most will agree that his thrillers opening sentence is a grabber that will keep readers following along, at least for a while: Ted McKay was about to put a bullet through his brain when the doorbell rang. Delaying his big finish, McKay greets one Justin Lynch. A total stranger to McKay, Lynch claims he knows what McKay was about to do with the 9 mm gun in his study. Lynch convinces McKay to delay shooting himself in order to kill two men in circumstances that justify homicide. The first proposed victim is Edward Blaine, a contemptible man who killed his girlfriend but went free from lack of evidence: McKay will be righting a sure wrong. And like McKay, the second victim, a man named Wendell, is contemplating taking his own life. If McKay shoots him, hell spare the victims family the trauma of a beloveds suicide. Believing he suffers an inoperable tumor and therefore has little to lose, McKay takes the assignments, which play out in tightly written, suspenseful scenes. Alas, there are loose ends to the plans. First, evidence confronts McKay that suggests his wife and Wendell were having an affair. Then McKay is abducted to what appears to be a Boston mental hospital. Here he meets people he knows, including a therapist he had consulted to deal with his imminent demise. Pirandello-an twists and turns follow. McKay, in the reality of the hospital, learns he may not have really killed Wendell. McKay may actually be Wendell. And McKay may not really have a tumor. A demented possum, meanwhile, stalks McKay. As some characters launch into verbose, windy explanations of whats going on, the narrative slows, and some plot turns become more fatiguing than breathtaking. The conclusion is nevertheless satisfying and provocative. Fans of alternative reality tales will probably stay the course; other readers may not. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Ted McKay is seconds away from committing suicide when he's interrupted by a mysterious visitor who somehow knows about his terminal brain tumor and his suicidal intent. The visitor proposes that, rather than ending it all, Ted should join an organization designed to help rid society of monstrous criminals left unpunished. After killing his targets, Ted will become a new recruit's target. Ted agrees, but the beautifully simple plan turns catastrophic after his first set of killings. After escaping a stalker wearing a lab coat, and then after experiencing horrifying hallucinations, Ted finds himself locked in a ward for the criminally insane. While Ted struggles to determine if he's a psychopathic killer or the victim of a mind-bending conspiracy, his therapist insists that his reality consists of repeating delusions that his mind is using to hide devastating memories. The extremely unreliable narrator is sometimes a challenge to follow through the story's complicated psychological loops, but Axat harnesses that uncertainty to build suspense and creates an intriguing, mind-bending thriller in the vein of Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island (2003).--Tran, Christine Copyright 2016 Booklist