An intricate tale, by turns compelling and off-putting.
A savvy businessman crafts an intricate Ponzi scheme in Greenberg and Tanz’s novel of trickery and greed.
Ted Casey, “once a successful fiduciary and money manager,” finds himself falling down a dark hole of deception and conspiracy when he decides that his current income is simply not enough for him any longer. Though wealthy and privileged, Ted, observing that his “salary and commissions had become quite stagnant,” decides he needs to make a change “in order to continue the lifestyle to which he has grown accustomed” (said lifestyle is one of designer clothes, fine dining, drinking, and gambling). Ted begins his downward spiral by taking advantage of an elderly woman, acquiring her wealth (via a reworking of her will and a judicious application of poison) and blowing it all in a few wild nights in Atlantic City—this is just the beginning of a descent into madness. Still unsatisfied, Ted resolves to reinvent himself in Florida, where he concocts a Ponzi scheme to make millions. Ted’s journey is full of twists, turns, and trickery, where nothing (and no one) is quite what it seems. Tanz revels in his creation of Ted’s superficial reality; references to pop culture events, popular restaurants, and brand names litter every page. The authors pepper the minimal dialogue with juvenile terms like “bro,” “stud muffin,” and “peeps,” which are either amusing or completely out-of-touch—just like the story’s protagonist, who is almost comically evil. Tanz and Greenberg write with clear intention and a propulsive sense of pace. The narrative is well-plotted, and the authors know their subject well. Some readers will enjoy Ted’s depraved attempts to get rich quick; however, the characters lack depth or any sort of relatability (lacking a feeling of connection, other readers may lose interest). More time is spent describing Ted’s dinners than on any explorations of character motivation.
An intricate tale, by turns compelling and off-putting.Pub Date: July 19, 2025
ISBN: 9798293090549
Page Count: 351
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2025
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
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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