A topsy-turvy investigation of that most disorienting question: What does it mean to be a good person?
A hedge fund manager on the brink of astronomical financial success develops a sudden connection to animals.
Herschel Caine is a young Jewish Brooklynite with nearly $3 million in the bank. He’s the manager of a new quantitative hedge fund that has the potential to be game changing not just for his own wallet, but for the entire world of finance. But first the fund needs investors. That’s Herschel’s job, and he’s not having a lot of luck. Nevertheless, he’s optimistic one late spring night when he and his wife, Franny, host a dinner party at their Cobble Hill brownstone. But when the night ends in tragedy, Herschel’s whole life begins to unravel. He begins to develop hyperempathy with animals—he can’t tolerate even wearing leather or drinking milk in his coffee. Then there’s the plum investor Herschel’s courting who sends Ian, a mysterious and increasingly aggressive emissary, to meetings. Just as the hedge fund seems on the brink of a massive—and potentially illegal—breakthrough, Herschel finds himself unbearably vulnerable: to the machine of his career, to Ian’s manipulations, and, above all, to his guilty conscience. This is Lipstein’s second novel to feature pre–middle-aged men behaving badly, but where Last Resort (2022) tackled ethical gray areas in the world of publishing, Lipstein here sets his sights on finance. And while this may seem a more obvious place to explore the kind of moral conundrums Lipstein likes, this new novel uses juxtaposition to surprising effect: philosophy mixes with financial thriller, high capitalism with animalia. But things are never as dissimilar as they first seem—sometimes, the book says, when our lives and beliefs bend so far, they can ultimately make a full circle.
A topsy-turvy investigation of that most disorienting question: What does it mean to be a good person?Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780374606589
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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