An uncompromising and engrossing tale of striving for success among greedy opportunists.
In Wolfe’s novel, friends and partners dive headfirst into the fierce corporate world to realize their dream of starting their own company.
When investment bank Kauffman Schwartz passes out innovator awards, wealth advisor Ted Sullivan goes home empty-handed. The plan had been for both Ted and his friend, investment banker Alec Young, to win in their respective divisions at the Arizona company; that would have been a great selling point for their future private equity firm, Sullivan Young, which has been their dream since they met six years earlier as KS interns. They’ve also been lovers for some time but have kept their romance a secret. (While Ted is openly gay, Alec hides his own sexuality from his conservative family, which includes an abusive father.) Complicating matters, Alec is also dating Emma Peterson, whom he’s using to get access to her “consulting titan” dad—this is another element of Ted and Alec’s long-term strategy to get investments for Sullivan Young. The two are fully aware that they may have to resort to cutthroat means, such as when handling Ted’s colleague, the “innovator” who wins and flaunts the award that Ted wants. Most of the people surrounding them are just as ruthlessly ambitious as they lie, deceive, and sometimes commit outright crimes. In many instances, when Ted and Alec feel as if everything is on track, something unexpected throws them off course. But when one particular event forces them to accelerate their plan, there’s no turning back; either their dream will become a reality or they’ll lose it all.
Wolfe effectively develops two strong leads. They come from drastically different backgrounds: Ted grew up on an Oklahoma farm and Alec’s father runs a successful business selling industrial machinery. At times, they seem avaricious; Sullivan Young focuses on green energy not to benefit the environment but because “there is money to be made in alternative energy.” But these two, who clearly love one another, are more devious than malicious, and many of the sneaky things they do are in response to someone else’s arguably worse offense. (That, however, may change as they move closer to their goal.) While Alec has suffered hardships in his past, the portrayal of Ted feels more intimate, exemplified by his first-person narration alternating with Alec’s third-person perspective. (Ted is haunted by a dark secret that gradually comes to light, and he struggles to overcome self-esteem issues.) Although many of the characters are unsavory, especially in the latter half, two are welcome exceptions: Ted’s ever-sympathetic cousin Dana and Alec’s warmhearted younger sister Alice. The author rounds out the narrative with memorable visual descriptions, as when he equates relief with “witnessing the emergency helicopter swoosh in after being stranded on a mountaintop, inundated by spiteful snakes and cold-blooded reptiles.” This all leads to a final act and an ending that readers won’t likely forget anytime soon.
An uncompromising and engrossing tale of striving for success among greedy opportunists.Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2025
ISBN: 9798991301800
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 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
Great crime fiction.
An apparent suicide threatens to destroy an Irish farm town in the final volume of French’s Cal Hooper trilogy.
In the fictional western Ireland townland of Ardnakelty, “there’s a girl going after missing.” Soon young Rachel Holohan is found dead in the river. Shortly before, she had stopped at Lena Dunne’s home, and nothing had seemed amiss. The medical examiner determines she’d swallowed antifreeze, and he presumes she then fell from a bridge into the water. The medical examiner and the town agree she’d died by suicide. But there is far more to the plot: 16-year-old Trey Reddy thinks Tommy Moynihan murdered Rachel. Moynihan doles out favors and punishments to the local townsfolk, who know it’s best not to cross him. Now rumors spread that Moynihan wants land and has a secret plan to forcibly buy up parcels from the locals. A factory will be built, or a great big data center, or who knows what. If Tommy’s son, Eugene, can get elected to the local council, then compulsory purchase orders for land will follow, and the farms will disappear. Eugene, who’d been romantically involved with Rachel, is wonderfully described as “on the weedy edge of good-looking” and just fine as long as you “don’t have high expectations in the way of chins.” Lena is engaged to the American Cal Hooper, an ex-cop turned woodworker. They are “more or less raising” Trey, and these three core characters are drawn into the mystery of Rachel’s death and may have to face the looming clouds of civilizational change for Ardnakelty. Lena is chastised for “asking your wee questions all round the townland,” and Trey wants to quit school, against Cal’s advice. Finally, the story’s best line: “You can’t go killing people just because they deserve it.”
Great crime fiction.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593493465
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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