A stunning story of mental illness and its challenges.
Zadeik’s novel offers an unflinching account of mental illness from multiple perspectives.
After Julia Reeves loses her father to cancer, she becomes despondent. She distances herself from her friends, her family, and, most of all, her mother, Laura. She then endures a clinical depression in which she uses drugs, disassociates, self-harms, and eventually attempts suicide to cover up a truth she’s hiding about her father’s death. Upon meeting with yet another therapist who fails to understand her, Julia recognizes that she must commit to hospitalization to save herself. (“Time and space had gone wonky lately; weaving in and out of weeks, an hour could feel like a year, while a day went by in a blur. The world couldn’t be counted upon to keep its form and shape.”) Julia checks in to a facility called Brookfield, where she meets Sam Lorenzo, another patient. As the two connect over aesthetic and literary interests, they fall in love. Not unlike the trajectory of mental illness, however, the narrative then takes an unexpected turn: Sam asks Julia to leave with him, and Julia follows. Laura receives a call from Brookfield reporting that Julia has disappeared; the institution can do little because Julia is over the age 18 and not a threat to herself or anyone else. Laura, joined by Sam’s mother, Arabella, crosses the country piecing together where Julia and Sam could be located in a seemingly hopeless search. The author offers an authentic-feeling depiction of mental illness and its impact on the sufferer’s loved ones. Zadeik deftly evokes the dark days of clinical depression and the rapid cycling of a mood disorder while exploring societal attitudes toward mental illness over generations. The author also beautifully depicts the unfolding and emotionally charged love story between two young people invested in philosophy, literature, and art, and she captures the heartbreaking spiral that can happen when things go awry. Alternating between the perspectives of Julia, Laura, and Arabella, this beautifully rendered narrative offers striking environmental details that mirror the characters’ perspectives while maintaining a tight plot structure.
A stunning story of mental illness and its challenges.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781647426682
Page Count: 344
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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