A compelling critique of the prison system with a few pacing and style issues.
In Smoot’s novel, the life of a man sentenced to prison for murder becomes intertwined with that of a woman leading a creative writing workshop at San Quentin.
James is a Black man who grows up in the 1980s in Northern California; Allison is a white woman who comes of age over a decade later in Indiana. After the drug-related death of his father, James and his mother move to a rough part of Oakland where the sound of gunfire keeps them up at night. James is a stellar student who rescues and adopts a former dog-fighting pit bull named Spike. No good deed goes unpunished, however; a former school bully (who had been bitten by Spike earlier) finds James and Spike and shoots the dog at point-blank range. James manages to disarm and kill his assailant; the cops find his fingerprints on the weapon, and he’s sentenced to prison. Allison, meanwhile, after coming to terms with her sexuality, earning a degree, and becoming a teacher, meets a woman and moves to Berkeley, where she becomes a volunteer writing tutor at the San Quentin prison. There, she meets James and reads his memoir-writing exercises, becoming more invested in him and his potential upcoming freedom as a parole hearing looms. Smoot’s novel insightfully explores problems within the justice system and follows two very likable protagonists. The choice to interrupt James’ narrative with Allison’s, however—especially in the early chapters—does not serve the novel well. James’ story—navigating the rough streets of Oakland, surviving prison, reliving the trauma of becoming a killer—is far more gripping. Allison’s rocket club adventures and sexual explorations, by contrast, are tonally jarring and impede the narrative momentum. Smoot’s book, as it moves across large spans of time (an entire adolescence, an entire prison sentence), can read more like a summary than a novel, and it occasionally trades in cliches: “Poetry is the beauty of water, earth, and fire.” Still, James’ story is compelling and affecting; it’s easy to see why Allison becomes so attached to him.
A compelling critique of the prison system with a few pacing and style issues.Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 9781627206716
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Apprentice House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2026
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
Great crime fiction.
An apparent suicide threatens to destroy an Irish farm town in the final volume of French’s Cal Hooper trilogy.
In the fictional western Ireland townland of Ardnakelty, “there’s a girl going after missing.” Soon young Rachel Holohan is found dead in the river. Shortly before, she had stopped at Lena Dunne’s home, and nothing had seemed amiss. The medical examiner determines she’d swallowed antifreeze, and he presumes she then fell from a bridge into the water. The medical examiner and the town agree she’d died by suicide. But there is far more to the plot: 16-year-old Trey Reddy thinks Tommy Moynihan murdered Rachel. Moynihan doles out favors and punishments to the local townsfolk, who know it’s best not to cross him. Now rumors spread that Moynihan wants land and has a secret plan to forcibly buy up parcels from the locals. A factory will be built, or a great big data center, or who knows what. If Tommy’s son, Eugene, can get elected to the local council, then compulsory purchase orders for land will follow, and the farms will disappear. Eugene, who’d been romantically involved with Rachel, is wonderfully described as “on the weedy edge of good-looking” and just fine as long as you “don’t have high expectations in the way of chins.” Lena is engaged to the American Cal Hooper, an ex-cop turned woodworker. They are “more or less raising” Trey, and these three core characters are drawn into the mystery of Rachel’s death and may have to face the looming clouds of civilizational change for Ardnakelty. Lena is chastised for “asking your wee questions all round the townland,” and Trey wants to quit school, against Cal’s advice. Finally, the story’s best line: “You can’t go killing people just because they deserve it.”
Great crime fiction.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593493465
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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