An entertaining shaggy dog of a futuristic whodunit.
An SF–tinged romp that blends elements of the noir thriller and the picaresque novel.
Son of the late John le Carré, Harkaway comes by his moody thriller credentials honestly. Yet here he echoes not his father so much as the Thomas Pynchon of Inherent Vice. His book stars schmo of a detective Cal Sounder, who’s pulled into a tangled tale of corporate intrigue and ethnic cuisine (“the Goan-Hungarian place is called Bela’s but the chef’s name is Atilla....His wife, Mâri, runs the business and she’s the brains”). The men blunder through, for the most part, while the women do the thinking. One topic at the top of everyone’s list is why a “nerd,” as Sounder describes him, should be lying dead on his apartment floor, his outfit a pastiche of high-flood pants, a clip-on tie, and orthotic shoes that “complete the anti-chic vibe.” Oh, and the dead nerd with the bullet in his brain is 7 feet, 8 inches tall and 91 years old: a superman, in other words, known in Harkaway’s metropolis of the near future as a Titan. And how does one get to be so old and gigantic? Therein lies a tale of genetic manipulation—familiar to fans of movies such as RoboCop and Elysium—the mastermind of which is, naturally, a Very Bad Man—or half-man, half-whatever—named Stefan Tonfamecasca. The mad science required to produce a Titan might be intellectually interesting, but it has produced a few monsters to make Sounder’s life miserable. And, Tonfamecasca being the creator of a new life form, who knows how many to produce before “ruining that post-scarcity thing for the few”? There are the inevitable crooked cops and femmes fatales (some of them quite oversized) along with some fun culinary side notes (“Barbecue...is the only food apart from lobster where a grown man is permitted to wear a bib without criticism”) to pepper Harkaway’s tale.
An entertaining shaggy dog of a futuristic whodunit.Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593535363
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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