A hauntingly unique tale of love, ghosts, and adventure.
An adventurous researcher with ESP joins forces with the host of a web series to discover the mysteries behind a supposedly haunted Victorian home.
Almost nothing scares Lucky Hart. With a bit of rationality and her ability to “read” people by making eye contact, Lucky isn’t at all afraid of the infamous Hennessee House, a three-story Victorian home that’s sent curious trespassers and former inhabitants screaming. Instead, she’s curious to learn the ins and outs of the place, what makes it tick, and just which of its supposedly supernatural happenings are real...or not. That’s why when Lucky hears about The Caretaker, a found-footage haunted house web series, she jumps at the chance to audition to become Hennessee House’s latest occupant. A self-described “ESP girlie,” she hopes that by uncovering this house’s age-old mystery, she can finally prove herself to be a legitimate supernatural researcher. All she needs to do is remain within the grounds for 30 days—how hard can it be? The first night of her stay, Lucky meets Maverick Phillips, a crew member on The Caretaker and host of another popular investigative series. After the three previous caretakers took off within days of their arrival, Maverick feels responsible for ensuring Lucky’s safety, but as the weeks progress, the two begin to grow closer. And the house begins to react to Lucky’s presence with overwhelming smells of peppermint, levitating flowers, specters, and more. She can’t help but wonder if Hennessee is trying to tell her something: Is she clashing with the house, or is it somehow making her powers stronger? Kann’s latest novel is a page-turner with a captivating heroine, supernatural scares, and a sprinkling of romance. Lucky is a dynamic character with drive and an inquiring mind who also happens to be asexual, and her burgeoning relationship with Maverick is lovingly and expertly explored by Kann. When the house begins its haunting, Lucky won’t stray from her principles—and the reader will stay with her until the end.
A hauntingly unique tale of love, ghosts, and adventure.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9780593336656
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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