A taut and compelling psychological tale.
A therapist gets drawn into an insidious program for traumatized veterans in this debut novel.
Linda Held is a single mother and early-career psychotherapist who isn’t interested in letting ethical concerns get in the way of her helping her clients. That’s what attracted her to the vaguely named “United Syndicates of Federal Assistance, Worldwide,” which runs the SoldierWell program, a private therapy initiative for veterans experiencing acute PTSD. Her clients are definitely in need of help. Pvt. Carl Boxer is a guilt-ridden soldier whose traumatic experience as a war zone driver led him to attack an Army chaplain (though he has no memory of doing so). Participation in SoldierWell is all that saved him from being court-martialed. Even worse is Marine Sgt. Todd Sparrow, a narcissist and potential sociopath with war crimes on his rap sheet. Linda is prepared to blur the normal boundary lines between patient and therapist to produce results—her early research is in the potential benefits of patient transference—but it soon becomes clear that the ethical standards of her employers are far looser (and darker) than even she imagined. As it turns out, USoFA’s plans for the vets in Linda’s care don’t necessarily involve fixing them. The deeper Linda immerses herself in the program, the more she realizes that she might not be helping to mitigate the effects of America’s “forever war” but simply keeping the machine primed and running. Mixing traditional narration with extended transcripts from therapy sessions, Clancy builds his world with unsettling precision. It’s a novel that leans heavily into psychology, and the characters are wonderfully (and sometimes horribly) drawn. “I can’t remember how I came to lead but I’m sure it had something to do with the way I carried myself,” says Todd to Linda, explaining what he perceives as his own natural leadership abilities. “I have what they call ‘command presence,’ if that’s a term you’re familiar with. That’s just how I see myself, and I’m confident others see me that way.” Readers may be suffering from “forever war” fatigue at this current moment of history, but the author’s parable is more than incisive political commentary. It’s an evergreen story of human frailty and this increasingly dystopian world.
A taut and compelling psychological tale.Pub Date: April 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-4-294-29897-8
Page Count: 418
Publisher: Montag Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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
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