A focused, impressively nuanced tale about teenagers, drugs, lies, and the terror of hidden enemies.
A queer high school student ponders the tragedies engulfing his young life and small town.
Lincoln, Arizona, is the setting for Wolfe’s contemporary slice of LGBTQ+ suspense fiction. “Token gay” Tyler Tuckerman struggles to survive beneath the weight of bullying from football jocks, the pressure of being young and out in high school, and a rash of teen suicides. September is sweltering in the gossipy town, which only makes things more dramatic at a funeral for the latest teen suicide, a tragic death following on the heels of those of two other kids who killed themselves on graduation night months earlier. Meanwhile, new student Nicole Clark arrives and immediately gravitates toward Tyler, who appreciates her friendship. Though a fresh face in town, Nicole is still traumatized by her mother’s death from cancer and the fact that her father is the new county sheriff. An avid photographer, Tyler regularly records the Lincoln High football games but must ride the bus to the events with the hypermasculine jocks, an activity he finds “kind of hot. Almost like being in a locker room, but the harassing side is a bitch.” What saves his sanity are memories of a forbidden love with William Ackhurst at summer camp, but he remains obsessed with the boy’s devastating suicide. Narrative duties are split between Tyler and mental health counselor Jennifer Hall, newly arrived from Phoenix and commissioned by the town to assess the serial teen suicides at Lincoln High. She instantly gels with Nicole’s father, and the two band together to look into the particulars of Lincoln’s sudden young deaths. She begins with online investigations and student interviews to forge partnerships between herself and the most at-risk school kids to gauge which students could be next to inexplicably lose hope and want to end their lives.
In this potent tale, vivid details emerge about online chat room participants who target gay students and encourage violent behavior against them at the school—along with specifics about a sinister drug cult. Jennifer also discovers the last boy to die was using mood-altering drugs and tranquilizers that match the toxicology scans of the other victims. When Tyler and Nicole are exposed to heavy drugs at a party and another student winds up dead, Jennifer must spring into action to apprehend the killer. The culprit may be much closer to Tyler than the young protagonist ever imagined. While the plot is drawn from relevant headlines and speeds along with a snappy momentum, Wolfe’s talent is in his crisp characterizations that pepper the story, from the lunch lady with a penchant for sneaking an afternoon cocktail to bullies like Jason Brophy who foment aggression and trouble at school. Gay readers will find Tyler’s openness about his sexuality refreshing, but a plot twist in the book’s final third turns the tables on everyone involved. In an economy of pages, this story manages to skillfully reflect on high school identity and self-discovery in the midst of bullying, confusing sexual awakenings, temptation, and angst from all directions. But the intricate novel is also about suicide and murder in their cruelest forms.
A focused, impressively nuanced tale about teenagers, drugs, lies, and the terror of hidden enemies.Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-75048-4
Page Count: 187
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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