Out of the Ashes by Kara Thomas

Thomas and Mercer, 2023

ISBN-13 ‎978-1662509537

Available: Paperback; Kindle

Samantha, a nurse in a hospital ICU, is rushing to leave Queens and head back to her small hometown in New York, at the start of Kara Thomas’s engrossing thriller Out of the Ashes. It’s late at night, and as she passes a cruiser, she confesses to having been “skittish around law enforcement” since she was a tween. “No need to behave like a criminal,” she says to herself. “I hadn’t killed anyone. Not yet.” But, it is surprisingly soon that she assists in her very sick uncle’s suicide, and it is then that a flood of memories engulfs her as she has returned to the place where her mother, father, and little sister were shot and their home destroyed by fire in an unsolved murder several years ago.

Kara Thomas doesn’t waste any time plunging the reader into the fascinating recent history of Carny, New York and the sometimes complicated lives of Samantha’s relatives, friends, and enemies. We learn about the corrupt cop she fears, the addict who was once her friend, her harsh aunt, her loving father, and the men in the family farm business that seem to have some sort of hold over the town. In sharp, spare detail, Thomas draws multi-faceted characters and reveals their unique experiences with each other, experiences that tie them together in unexpected, for the reader, ways.

Samantha is an exciting protagonist: gutsy, smart, and aggressive. Her determination to find out whether her little sister might still be alive leads to a fast-paced investigation of people Sam already suspects to have been involved and those she adds to her list. Also, a detective new to the case poses alternative theories for Sam to consider. Whereas other crime novels might show us things are not as they seem, Thomas shows us Sam’s perspective as an unchanging story that steadily becomes more of what it seems. Sam herself tells the gripping story of her own weaknesses and mistakes and is a study in the effects of childhood psychological trauma.

There is never a dull moment in Out of the Ashes; it is never predictable. Thomas delves into the complicated: internet research, family histories, and psychological trauma. However, the reader is never forced to accept confusion as the author’s way of deepening the mysteries embedded in the narrative. This is a novel to lose yourself in – and maybe enjoy again someday on the big screen. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Nova Hadley