An entertaining but uneven tale about marriage, violence, and historical preservation.
A rising power couple consider the fate of an old church in this debut novel.
For almost three centuries, St. Thomas Cathedral has loomed above the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, though it’s been years since anyone has prayed in it. The town hires the Boston-based engineering firm Hennessy Brothers to conduct a historical assessment of the property. The experts tasked with this appraisal are Carrie Medford and Jason Wiltshire, whose long-simmering romantic tension has only recently erupted into a brief courtship and a high-profile wedding (Carrie is the daughter of one of the richest men in New England). While on a honeymoon in Britain checking out cathedrals of a similar age as St. Thomas, the couple manage to uncover a massive pornography ring, making them heroes to the country’s public and earning Jason a knighthood. (They also meet an odd woman who foretells that Jason will be a “Master Builder” and “the one who will restore the holy and sanctify the holy ground.”) When they get back to Massachusetts, Jason is determined to find a way to save and renovate St. Thomas, though Carrie isn’t sure it’s possible. The project will hinge on many factors, including Jason and Carrie’s quick rise within their company; her wealthy father, a former Green Beret; and some gangland murders in China. The ambitious book flips between a few different modes: Sometimes it reads like a political thriller and sometimes a marriage story with intriguing elements of Dan Brown–style religious mystery. The novel has plenty of fun moments along the way. Unfortunately, Hill’s odd linguistic tics take some getting used to (“F-ck” appears on nearly every other page). Still, the novel’s original sin is its nearly 800-page length. Events (some of them unbelievable) keep happening, but they fail to build on one another in a meaningful way, and many readers won’t care about Carrie and Jason enough to follow them on their long journey.
An entertaining but uneven tale about marriage, violence, and historical preservation.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781998190980
Page Count: 776
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2024
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
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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