An enjoyable western with contemporary sensitivities.
In search of adventure, a young man from Chicago finds more than he bargained for in the wilds of 1878 Colorado in McSweegan’s novel.
In the middle of the night, Nolan Carter, his younger brother, Brian, and their childhood friend, Davey Tyler, are sleeping by their campsite in the Colorado foothills when they are awakened by the sound of twigs snapping. Davey sits upright and is promptly shot in the head by an unseen assailant. Nolan and Brian grab their guns, begin shooting in the direction of the gunfire, and chase off their attackers. Brian has had enough of Colorado and returns to Chicago with Davey’s body. Nolan stays behind, still “looking for something.” Working as a freight hauler between Pueblo and Denver, he heads over to the rail station to check on potential hauling prospects. There he encounters Professor Maria Mitchell, who is in charge of three younger women (Mitchell’s younger sister and two former students) and in a state of distress. They are astronomers from Vassar College, traveling to Denver to view and record the 1878 total solar eclipse, stopping in Pueblo to change trains. But they have arrived in the middle of a railway war between two companies; the ladies, with their baggage and valuable telescopes in tow, are stuck in Pueblo. Nolan offers his hauling services and the action-packed narrative shifts into high gear. McSweegan seamlessly weaves together traditional frontier story elements with the sociological battles of the emerging Suffragette and women’s equality movements, then adds a hearty portion of astronomy. Descriptions of the solar eclipse, with daylight vanishing behind a blackened moon surrounded by a pulsing corona, are riveting (“it appeared like a giant black mouth about to devour us”). Desperados, gunfights, a quartet of marauding Indigenous people, dusty trails, and drenching storms are juxtaposed against Eastern refinement and comforts. Nolan, the soulful, newly-minted cowboy from Chicago, is a winning hero. During the long, treacherous journey to Denver, he discovers that young astronomer Cora Harrison is as indomitable as he.
An enjoyable western with contemporary sensitivities.Pub Date: March 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781509248322
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.
An author is targeted by a fan who just can’t let her go.
Arden Bowie has had plenty of tragedy in her life, but now she’s finally on top. After her parents died when she was a teenager, she moved from Brooklyn to Ohio to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She soon became part of their loving family and grew up to become a writer and bookseller. When her debut novel is published, she meets Dustin Dubecki at her first event. He showers her with praise, asks for writing advice, and wants to take her out for coffee. Arden tells herself he’s just a little awkward, but then he keeps showing up at her local events—and, even stranger, she’s sure she sees him lurking at her event in New York City. When he bursts into her apartment one night and assaults her, Arden’s calm life is shattered. Dustin gets a five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility; Arden spends most of that time rebuilding her sense of stability. Eventually, she moves to Oregon to start a new life where Dustin can never find her. But even though she has a beautiful home, a thriving career, a doting family, new friends, and even a potential love interest in a former cop named Gideon Riley, Arden can’t escape Dustin’s rage when his sentence is finally up. Roberts toggles between Arden’s point of view and Dustin’s, giving the reader occasional glimpses into his extremely twisted mindset. Although Arden’s attempts to escape Dustin are engrossing, the story stalls in the middle when far too many pages are dedicated to Arden purchasing and decorating a house. But the excitement picks back up when Dustin, a truly odious villain, re-enters the story. It’s also satisfying to see Arden grow into someone who refuses to be a victim, even as she deals with horrifying circumstances.
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250413581
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
