A comically free-wheeling espionage tale that delivers a barrage of goofy routines.
A deeply delusional man who imagines he’s an elite British spy is once again called on to save the world in this sequel.
In Orkin’s previous novel, You Only Live Once (2018), James Flynn believed, against all evidence and reason, that he was an agent in the British secret service with a “Double-0 designation.” He managed to foil a plot by the ruthless gangster Francisco Goolardo to kidnap the 10 richest men in the world, but the media attention that ensued hobbled James psychologically. Now, he’s a 37-year-old man reduced to living in a “halfway house for the mentally ill,” taking heavy medication, and working at a hot dog shop while routinely being humiliated by teenagers. But when Goolardo and his henchman Mendoza escape from prison and attempt to murder James for the sake of revenge, he snaps back into “the old Flynn, the masterful one, with the deep voice and the British accent with just a touch of Scottish burr.” He’s recruited by Sergei Belenki, the “high-tech billionaire” who founded Blinky Social Network, to help stop damaging information leaks likely coordinated by Russia. But in the process, James discovers that Belenki is the real danger to be thwarted. The author reprises not only James’ lead role, but also the preceding novel’s plot structure—the intrepid hero must save the world from yet another diabolical plan, assisted by his trusty sidekick, Sancho. Orkin can be hilariously inventive, and James is a memorable protagonist—simultaneously sane and bonkers, diffident and brave. But the frantic pace of the humor—the silliness is delivered relentlessly, one joke on the heels of another—can be a bit exhausting. For readers in search of ceaseless slapstick humor without a moment of reprieve, this book will fill the bill.
A comically free-wheeling espionage tale that delivers a barrage of goofy routines.Pub Date: March 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77223-399-5
Page Count: 389
Publisher: Imajin Books
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sugarcoated take on midcentury suburbia.
A lively and unabashedly sentimental novel examines the impact of feminism on four upper-middle-class white women in a suburb of Washington, D.C., in 1963.
Transplanted Ohioan Margaret Ryan—married to an accountant, raising three young children, and decidedly at loose ends—decides to recruit a few other housewives to form a book club. She’s thinking A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but a new friend, artistic Charlotte Gustafson, suggests Betty Friedan’s brand-new The Feminine Mystique. They’re joined by young Bitsy Cobb, who aspired to be a veterinarian but married one instead, and Vivian Buschetti, a former Army nurse now pregnant with her seventh child. The Bettys, as they christen themselves, decide to meet monthly to read feminist books, and with their encouragement of each other, their lives begin to change: Margaret starts writing a column for a women’s magazine; Viv goes back to work as a nurse; Charlotte and Bitsy face up to problems with demanding and philandering husbands and find new careers of their own. The story takes in real-life figures like the Washington Post’s Katharine Graham and touches on many of the tumultuous political events of 1963. Bostwick treats her characters with generosity and a heavy dose of wish-fulfillment, taking satisfying revenge on the wicked and solving longstanding problems with a few well-placed words, even showing empathy for the more well-meaning of the husbands. As historical fiction, the novel is hampered by its rosy optimism, but its take on the many micro- and macroaggressions experienced by women of the era is sound and eye-opening. Although Friedan might raise an eyebrow at the use her book’s been put to, readers will cheer for Bostwick’s spunky characters.
A sugarcoated take on midcentury suburbia.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781400344741
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper Muse
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate.
An otherworldly Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the South Bronx.
Pheus visits his father in the Bronx every summer. The Afro-Dominican teen is known for his mesmerizing bachata music, love of history, and smooth way with the ladies. Eury, a young Puerto Rican woman and Hurricane Maria survivor, is staying with her cousin for the summer because of a recent, unspecified traumatic event. Her family doesn’t know that she’s been plagued since childhood by the demonlike Ato. Pheus and Eury bond over music and quickly fall in love. Attacked at a dance club by Sileno, its salacious and satyrlike owner, Eury falls into a coma and is taken to el Inframundo by Ato. Pheus, despite his atheism, follows the advice of his father and a local bruja to journey to find his love in the Underworld. Rivera skillfully captures the sounds and feels of the Bronx—its unique, diverse culture and the creeping gentrification of its neighborhoods. Through an amalgamation of Greek, Roman, and Taíno mythology and religious beliefs, gaslighting, the colonization of Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad identity, and female empowerment are woven into the narrative. While the pacing lags in the middle, secondary characters aren’t fully developed, and the couple’s relationship borders on instalove, the rush of a summertime romance feels realistic. Rivera’s complex world is well realized, and the dialogue rings true. All protagonists are Latinx.
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate. (Fabulism. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0373-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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