Sometimes sluggish but a fun amalgam of unpredictable mishaps with an eccentric lead.
A surreal novel about one man’s existential crisis.
Debut author Way presents protagonist James Singer. James has been having a hard time sleeping. He is a former art teacher who now lives in a trailer with his trusty, if skittish, bull mastiff, Blue. He is also a recovering alcoholic, a former businessman (a profession he began after he left education), and an active motorcycle enthusiast. At night, James has envisioned an unkindly wraith that attacks him. This has left him spending his nights in the bathtub. He’s afraid to tell his doctor about his visions; he sees such a confession as a one-way ticket to “one of those foreboding, state-funded facilities.” He drafts what he calls his “Doomsday” letter, which explains it all. Developments take increasingly strange turns. At different points, it seems that James is dead. Whether he is being hit by a car or he is succumbing to the many medications that he has swallowed, death lingers just around the corner. Yet James lives on. He speaks with a police dog and a dying wasp. Despite the fact that he will be “forced to return to the Hell” that is his existence, he learns that perhaps life is worth living. Whenever it seems James has succumbed to something like drinking drain cleaner, he pulls through. And it is not as though he winds up speaking with angels or other usual suspects of a near-death adventure. One scene inside of a drainage pipe involves a sassy character called Night Blade. Night Blade consists mostly of parts of an orange. Later portions include memorable moments such as a hauntingly bizarre group gathered around a bonfire. Yet some details of these experiences can prove tiresome. James offers his many views on motorcycles, including an exposition on types of helmets. Still, the reader comes to care about James (and his poor dog Blue). The question remains as to where his strange downward spiral will end.
Sometimes sluggish but a fun amalgam of unpredictable mishaps with an eccentric lead.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9798987272183
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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