Die Next

April 20, 2020
At the start of this smart thriller from Stone (Two for the Show), Zack Yellin, the unemployed son of wealthy parents, sits down on a stool at a New York City coffee shop next to a businessman. Soon afterward, the businessman leaves, taking Zack’s phone by mistake. Zack dials his own phone and informs the businessman of the problem. They agree to meet back at the coffee shop in 20 minutes to switch phones. While waiting, Zack, who noticed the stranger typing in his password, browses through the man’s phone, only to discover photos of dead people violently murdered and photographed up close. The reader now learns that the businessman is professional killer Joey Richter. If Zack returns Joey’s phone, Joey may well fear Zack has seen the photos and feel compelled to do away with Zack. If Zack doesn’t return the phone, Joey has all of Zack’s personal information and can locate Zack, his friends, and his loved ones. Zack’s decision sets off a series of events that will involve danger to his best friend, his girlfriend, and possibly a large group of innocent people. Stone keeps the tension high throughout. This action-packed tale satisfies. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.

April 15, 2020
"The odds against accidentally swapping cell phones with an assassin in a coffee shop are astronomically high," muses the hero of this chilly look at our brave new world. Zack Yellin, 19-year-old slacker whose genial pointlessness irritates everybody but him, doesn't notice that the cellphone on the table looks like his but isn't. When he finds the horrifying photos on the phone, he begins to sense he's in a great deal of trouble. So does the assassin, who is not the smooth killing machine of the movies but a screw-up who kills because he can't do anything else. Stone wrings a lot of suspense out of the moments leading to the confrontation we know is coming. The surprise is that the clash is only the first stage in a widening life-or-death war with the battleground . . . cellphones. Their criminal capacity makes conventional crime seem medieval, even biblical. It's almost reassuring that resolution comes in conventional gun scenes and a socko courtroom battle. A reminder that people, at least for now, are still in charge.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)