A madcap satire that skewers notions of returning to an imaginary past.
A pre-modern steppe lord is reborn as a contemporary clone in Bekakhmetov’s debut novel.
In Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2021, aging molecular biologist Ansar Tolengitovic laments how much his country has changed in the past few decades: “The young men particularly weren’t as masculine and brutal anymore…not even like he and his friends had been in Soviet times,” he notes. “Forget resembling their glorious nomad ancestors, who could boast of being able to conquer any city, country, or empire.” Ansar gets it into his head that the only way to return his nation to its glorious nomadic past is to clone Kenesary, the last khan of the Kazakh people, using DNA from the khan’s long-dead body. He finds a willing surrogate mother in Tomyris, a multilevel marketing hustler and sometime harpist. Raised on a secret biological preserve on the island of Barsa-Kelmes, the new Kenesary is sent to an elite school in Britain, so that he may rub shoulders with future world leaders and captains of industry. At a Uyghur restaurant in Berkshire, he meets a tightrope walker named Amursana who considers himself to be a reincarnation of the last prince of Jungars. The two men seem destined to reinstate the ancient ways of steppe life—at least until the powers that be get wise to their plan and vow to halt the revolution. Bekakhmetov’s prose is barbed and often funny, as when the two revivified steppe lords meet with the queen of England: “Kenesary and Amursana were happily enjoying their new titles in Berkshire. Having royal prefixes added to their long and unpronounceable names made the gentlemen feel more comfortable. Declaring in all seriousness that they were princes felt outrageously uplifting.” The author is adept at crafting larger-than-life characters and introducing them economically. There are some issues with the novel’s momentum, however, in part because the reader never really gets a clear idea where the story is headed. Even so, the novel succeeds as a satire of modern concerns about masculinity, Soviet nostalgia, and even cryptocurrency, among other contemporary issues.
A madcap satire that skewers notions of returning to an imaginary past.Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022
ISBN: 9798885045544
Page Count: 158
Publisher: New Degree Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 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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