An enjoyably unconventional sendup of the 2016 election that loses steam as it goes on.
A brash billionaire launches an unlikely bid for the presidency in a political satire that’s clearly modeled on the 2016 campaign season.
U.S. Sen. Candace Chaney is widely considered to be an “unbeatable” candidate in both the Democratic presidential primaries and the general election, where she faces a gathering class of potential Republican opponents. She’s the imperious head of a campaign organization known as the “Chaney machine,” which has seemingly boundless financial resources. Despite the fact that her “closets are packed with skeletons,” a partisan press corps handles her with kid gloves, and only seems prepared to present her with “flaccid questions” during press conferences. However, the apparent inevitability of her ascendancy to the Oval Office is challenged by a political novice: billionaire businessman John Fremount. Despite his distinct lack of political experience, he manages to recruit political consultant Chandler Bering to be his campaign manager by boldly pledging to spend no less than $250 million on his presidential run. Fremount sets his sights on the Democratic nomination, and although he’s initially dismissed as an unserious competitor, he manages to win the primary in South Carolina—and a then a successive string of primaries in other states, prompting Chaney to accuse him of electoral fraud. (Apparently, Fremount owns a stake in the company that manufactures the primaries’ electronic voting machines.) With this setup, Clouatre cheekily parodies the presidential election of 2016, but with a twist: Chaney, who’s obviously modeled on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is depicted as woodenly unlikable and endlessly corrupt, while Fremount, the stand-in for Donald Trump, isn’t portrayed as a bumbling buffoon, but as an uncommonly sly political operator.
The author also tweaks other significant details in order to avoid a retread of the events that he mines for farcical humor. For example, Chaney’s husband, Brad, is a vice president, with none of the mercurial talent of President Bill Clinton—although Brad does have an appetite for philandering. Also, in Clouatre’s telling, it’s the Chaneys who forge a suspiciously friendly relationship with the Russian government, and who use their namesake foundation to cozy up to dictators in exchange for massive charitable donations. The author has a knack for extracting comedy from realistic hyperbole; his exaggeration is just grand enough to elicit guffaws but modest enough to retain a sense of verisimilitude. For example, another senator pursues climate “denialists” with the implacable zeal of a true believer, likening those who stray from scientific consensus to Holocaust skeptics. However, Clouatre has an exasperating tendency to deeply bury readers in detail, which becomes onerous to manage. He also shows much more interest in conjuring up characters—and the novel’s cast is legion—than he is in carefully developing them; indeed, new players pop up with exhausting frequency. At times, the drama lags, as well, as the author presents commentary from political news shows at length; one sometimes gets the feeling that one is reading a Politico article that stubbornly refuses to end.
An enjoyably unconventional sendup of the 2016 election that loses steam as it goes on.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 500
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 20, 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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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