A well-handled mystery with the appropriate twist at the end.
This latest installment in Greenwood’s John Pilate series shows us that a little town in Nebraska can be a hotbed of evil.
John Pilate’s life is a hot mess. He has PTSD, perhaps the result of childhood neglect and the many, many misadventures that followed. He aches to make things right with his estranged wife back in Cross, Nebraska, but he drinks too much, and right now, he is held prisoner in a sweltering shipping container in Key West (yes, he escapes). Off he goes to win back Kate, the wife. Pilate has a history in Cross. In fact, he wrote a bestseller about the violence visited on the town. People are getting shot again, and the acting sheriff, Jeremy Ryder, enlists him to help to sort it all out. Oh, and he has left a romantic entanglement back in Florida with Val, his boxing trainer. After all sorts of surprises and a full complement of weirdos, scary confrontations, and harrowing gunplay, peace of a sort returns to Cross, though nothing is ever certain in John Pilate’s world. Greenwood pulls many tricks from his writer’s satchel. One of the most appealing is Pilate’s inner voice, Simon, a “little boy, dressed up in a big boy costume,” which is akin to his conscience. And there is a real baddie whom we get to know as “Mr. Nice-Nice” for his favorite expression—he’s the creep who locked Pilate in the shipping container. Pilate is an unlikely hero. He’s no better than he should be and spends much of the time hung over. But he loves Kate fiercely and their two kids even more. There are some weak spots in the plot and some questions that have only vague or speculative answers, but the book also has a quirkiness and energy and snappy/snarky dialogue that keep things moving briskly. At book’s end, has Pilate finally found some sort of equilibrium? Is this a man who can learn anything? Or is this not the last of the Pilate series? Finally, another copy edit wouldn’t hurt.
A well-handled mystery with the appropriate twist at the end.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-30102-0
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Caroline Street Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
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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