A worthwhile addition to the Blackbeard canon.
There’s always room for another treatment of the Blackbeard story, especially with two worthy adversaries.
The early 18th century was the great age of piracy in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of America. The most notorious of those pirates was Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. On the other side was Lt. Robert Maynard, of the Royal Navy. Doggett’s historical novel begins as Maynard and his superior, Capt. Ellis Brand, have been ordered to find and arrest the brigand and end his reign of terror. To sweeten the pot, the King has decreed that pirates who abjure their wicked ways within a year will be pardoned. (At one point, Teach raises the possibility of a pardon to his crew but backs down.) We first meet the pirates at New Providence, their “capital” in the Bahamas. Pirate Woodes Rogers has accepted the pardon and been named governor of those islands. When he sails in to take up his protective new position, the pirates give him a fiery welcome and go off a-plundering. Blackbeard, with his captured French slave ship now christened the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” along with his confederate Richard Richards captaining another “Revenge,” eventually make their way to Charles Town in South Carolina, blockade the port, and bleed the town dry of its treasure. Now Brand and Maynard are more determined than ever to catch their quarry. Eventually, off the coast of North Carolina, there comes a showdown, Blackbeard and Maynard, mano a mano, and the decks become awash with blood. History buffs will know the end result, but there are no spoilers here. Blackbeard says, prophetically, “Your name will be known only because of mine, Mr. Maynard.” Teach was an actual, historical, person and tailor made for the character that we know: a larger-than-life man who played the part of a demon from Hell so well that his prey usually gave up without a fight. His fate, ably told here, is very fitting. Doggett knows the pirate idiom well and creates some nuanced characters, Blackbeard the most fascinatingly realized of them all.
A worthwhile addition to the Blackbeard canon.Pub Date: April 4, 2024
ISBN: 9798321225110
Page Count: 244
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 4, 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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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