A very effective fictional exploration of an ordinary U.S. soldier’s experience serving in Afghanistan.
Inks sets a collection of short stories in and around the United States’ war in Afghanistan.
In these stories, the author, a Purple Heart recipient, conveys dozens of aspects of the lives of American soldiers serving in Afghanistan against the Taliban. Some of the stories are earnest and personal, like the opening “Blood Wings,” in which a young man named Matthew Clifton leaves his sleepy home on a cattle farm in Montana (“Like the livestock we kept,” he reflects, “I sometimes felt they were raising me healthy but behind a corral where I could do no damage or break their tender hearts by running away”), endures basic training, and receives the call to join the Airborne division, a coveted assignment despite its high toll of physical injury (“Since day one, injured trainees were background props to any airborne setting. These poor souls could be seen crutching around the barracks or lingering at the DFAC over lukewarm coffee…).” In other pieces, Inks employs a comic voice, as in the picaresque story “Jack Fleming Lives!” in which two bored servicemen invent a sterling figure named Jack Fleming, watch in amazement as he becomes a legend, promptly decide to kill him off, and watch as his legend only grows: “It seems the only thing we did by killing Jack Fleming was cement his legacy,” one reflects. “I’m seeing little candle-lit vigils outside of MWR hooches.” Regardless of the storytelling register the author chooses, the stories are uniformly taut and authentic, and the prose is eloquent; when the protagonist of “A Fobbit’s Report” reflects on “traumatized units struggling to make sense of their lives after being re-subjected to the petty tyrannies of garrison life,” Inks concisely summarizes the jarring contrast they experience: “I just saw my friend’s face cleaved in two and you’re grilling me about having my hands in my pockets?” This kind of you-are-there verisimilitude is bracing.
A very effective fictional exploration of an ordinary U.S. soldier’s experience serving in Afghanistan.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 189
Publisher: Double Dagger Books Ltd
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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