by Brenda Coffee ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2025
These true, well-crafted stories provide wild entertainment and deeper messages of self-worth.
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This raw memoir explores one woman’s remarkably dramatic history and its resulting emotional scars.
“That’s me,” Coffee remarks while discussing yet another incident of violence that has transpired in her life. “I have a PhD in trauma.” The author begins her story in San Antonio, Texas, where she and her first husband, Jon Philip Ray, bought a decrepit residence called Spy House on the Hill. It had a sordid history of Nazi spies and various illicit activities; Coffee worked to restore it, creating a funky space for 16 mm screenings of foreign films with friends. It was a happy life, until an incident with Valium caused Philip to break with reality and brought illegal drugs into the picture. An entrepreneur who had a hand in designing the first personal computer, Philip decided that cocaine manufacturing would be a great scientific challenge and converted their basement into a mad scientist’s dungeon of bubbling mercury and flesh-eating toxic chemicals. Never one to shy away from danger or to question the man she worshiped most of her adult life, Coffee endured the worst aspects and aided Philip however she could. Through his laboratory experiments, Philip also stumbled onto the creation of a smokeless cigarette (the author herself dubbed the process “vaping,” coining that phrase for the very first time), which led to disquieting scrutiny from law enforcement, tobacco companies, and other shadowy figures creeping around the edges of their lives. Inevitable violence and tragedy befell the couple, causing Coffee to depart for Belize in search of solace. It wasn’t long before an ill-fated taxi ride into Guatemala led to her being taken hostage by dangerous militia personnel, putting her once again in harm’s way. After a narrow escape that felt like something ripped from an action movie, the author found herself back home and beginning a toxic pattern all over again, which finally spurred deeper reflection on her past and a resolve to escape dangerous men once and for all.
Describing the astonishing events of her life, Coffee demonstrates her considerable powers as a storyteller and a wordsmith. She eschews the usual structures of a memoir, letting specific details of her history trickle in naturally as she keeps her attention focused on the action at hand. (The powerful moment she and Philip arrive at their house, both standing “spellbound as the city unfolded at [their] feet,” speaks volumes more about their attraction and mutual desires than any standard retelling of a first date.) Her narration recounting her escape from Guatemala and dangerous incidents of domestic abuse delivers suspense and action that rivals any thriller. Coffee uses dark humor and well-placed moments of introspection to keep things relatable—she compares her inability to parse through what sparked a fight with Philip to Abbot and Costello’s famous “Who’s on First?” routine. As a narrative, her book does feel slightly imbalanced, focused much more on Philip than on the author’s own subsequent travels or her eventual healing, but no matter what story she is concentrating on, Coffee consistently delivers unexpected twists and sharp insights.
These true, well-crafted stories provide wild entertainment and deeper messages of self-worth.Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781647429065
Page Count: 256
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
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Best Books Of 2017
New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
National Book Award Finalist
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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by Kamala Harris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2025
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
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New York Times Bestseller
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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