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MISTAKE OF IDENTITY

MIDNIGHT MUSINGS & TWISTED TWEETS ON POSTMODERN IDENTITY

Provocative and deserving of attention.

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Kamali’s second book of poetry ruminates on the pressing political and moral issues of our age.

In his debut collection, Kamali presented a series of free-verse poems, many of which explored the concept of “wokeness.” This new offering approaches similar issues regarding social awareness with a particular emphasis on race. The poems or “musings,” most no longer than the text content of a tweet, encourage readers to meditate and revaluate outmoded preconceptions of race and identity. Kamali’s writing is confrontational and probing, with the aim of shaking the reader into a higher state of awareness: “What if it turns out / that by putting group identity / above the individual / you’re still half asleep? / #Wake Up Woke!” Deeply observant of human behavior, Kamali’s distilled writing challenges both mental and physical boundaries: “And have you ever observed / that people belonging to one religion / tend to live in the same region? #Maybe it’s an accident?” Most poems begin with the phrases And what if… or And have you ever wondered. This repeating chime is akin to the strike of tingsha bells in meditation, awakening awareness—although readers may find the recurrence tedious. Those familiar with Kamali’s work will also identify some lines repeated from his debut: “And what if / nations are gangs / and nationalists / gangsters?” Still, Kamali, whose last book was Dog Whistling Dixie Past the Graveyard (2020), provides a thorough dissection of our current political condition; no one escapes scrutiny: “And have you ever noticed / that liberals have lost their belief / in individual liberty? / And that they can only stomach the notion / if it applies to group-based rights?” This is stimulating writing that compels us to challenge deep-set beliefs, but the author’s reliance on repetition may prove an irritation for some.

Provocative and deserving of attention.

Pub Date: April 23, 2021

ISBN: 979-8-74-108669-8

Page Count: 76

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021

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  • New York Times Bestseller

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DEVOLUTION

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

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  • New York Times Bestseller

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

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TO DIE FOR

Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.

The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.

Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead. 

Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024

ISBN: 9781538757901

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024

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