An entertaining spoof of American politics with energetic characters and sharp repartee.
A modern-day man trying to emulate the masked do-gooder of the Old West finds it harder than he expected in Taylor’s raucous adventure.
Taylor’s yarn begins in February 2021, when Joe Smith, laid off from his public relations job at Toyota, decides that what America—and especially his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky—needs is for him to become a new Lone Ranger, dedicated to righting wrongs and quelling strife. He acquires a sidekick in Teresa “Ta-Ta” VanDerveer, an attractive lawyer with money and time to burn; her autistic sister, Margie, has apparent right-wing sympathies, suspecting everyone she meets of stealing the election. The trio patrol Lexington’s streets and Starbucks shops in Ta-Ta’s Mercedes Cabriolet—which is silver, of course—looking for people in distress to help. Unfortunately, the new Lone Ranger’s methods of doing good—mainly handing out $20 bills and Good & Plenty candy—usually fail miserably. His attempt to calm a domestic squabble earns him a crack on the head from the wife’s skillet. After he tries to cheer up a depressed woman, she shoots herself. And his repeated efforts to help a scornful teenage sex worker result in more violence from her pimp. Along the way, the Lone Ranger takes in a satirical vision of American culture, awash in bizarre protests: “If you can love and coexist with dogs, then you should love and coexist with Covid!” exclaims a zealot at a coronavirus-rights march. Adding sardonic commentary on the scene is a magical figure known as Coyote, who often appears in the guise of a goat and performs offensive japes.
Taylor’s rambling picaresque features offbeat characters and gonzo situations, all in service of a sendup of extremism across the political spectrum, which he portrays as a cacophonous mashup of incoherent slogans and conspiracy theories: “They got Trump and Biden secretly together!” shrieks one protester. “To keep Bernie from winning! They want to topple Gamestop! We gotta build an underground Wall to stop Them!” Amid the rants and exclamation points, the Lone Ranger and Ta-Ta are depicted as the last halfhearted believers in hangdog American normalcy: “To make America heal, to bring back jobs, to make America function as a cohesive unit, respectful of the individual and of individual differences” is The Lone Ranger’s summary of his mission. Despite the vehemence of the politics on display, the novella’s mood is relaxed and generous; it’s bemused, rather than outraged, and seemingly convinced that masked adventuring is less important than quiet kindness in the face of misery. Margie turns out to be the story’s true hero; her orneriness evaporates when she comforts a bereaved mother with a heartfelt hug. Taylor’s dialogue sometimes suggests classic screwball comedy with its colorful eccentrics trading snappy banter—with Margie again stealing the show with snarky one-liners (He: “I am The Lone Ranger.” She: “Well then, why can’t you be more alone?”). Readers will root for the masked man as he undertakes his gallant, if seldom effectual, quest.
An entertaining spoof of American politics with energetic characters and sharp repartee.Pub Date: April 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798309579617
Page Count: -
Publisher: Nat 1 Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.
An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.
Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781982112820
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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