As much fun as you’ll ever have with middle-aged marriage and ecoterrorism.
When dinner at California’s fanciest restaurant turns into a hostage situation…
Oakley loves an unlikely premise, but she’s outdone herself in her sixth novel, reviving the ambitions of her failed-novelist heroine with a truly wild series of events. The book is set during a single evening at an ultra-high-end restaurant called La Fin du Monde, located on a California coastal cliff. Its “million-dollar view” is upstaged by its $8.4 million dessert, which includes a diamond bracelet “and has famously been ordered only once, by a New York Yankees player for his wife, the week after his sext messages with a Southwest flight attendant went viral.” (Funny, culturally clued-in asides are thick on the ground.) Jane and Dan end up celebrating their 19th anniversary at this palace of excess when he wins a voucher he thinks is for a free dinner but actually only entitles him to make a reservation. Sadly, Jane’s planning to ask him for a divorce, partly because of some texts she saw on his phone but more because she’s just so bored with her life. But the boredom’s about to be over. Dan and Jane are barely through their first course (claw-shaped seafood concoctions that look “like they harvested them out of Sigourney Weaver’s stomach”) when a bunch of people in masks carrying assault rifles pour into the dining room. “Jane is no gun expert, but she did research various military-grade weapons when she was writing her novel Tea Is for Terror, about an evil gang taking over a high-end teahouse in London and holding everyone hostage and oh dear God.” Yes, somehow the leader of the climate activists is one of the six people who read Jane’s novel—and the evening has many other surprises in store. Though the change in temperature of Jane and Dan’s marriage is not the biggest one, it’s nonetheless relatable and sweet. (Perhaps Oakley is celebrating the 24th anniversary of Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, which also includes a love story? Fans of that book will enjoy the connection.)
As much fun as you’ll ever have with middle-aged marriage and ecoterrorism.Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593200827
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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