by J. Lyndon Hickman ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A clever fantasy featuring a protagonist guided by logic and his better angels.
In Hickman’s (The Years of Magic, 2011) comedy, a writer publishes a bestseller that agitates the devil himself.
Ted Granville works in the research department at a small-town newspaper. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, he’s written and published a nonfiction book called The Devil and the Id—an “assessment of the origins of evil in the human psyche.” In his comfy, suburban home, he eagerly reads a glowing review of his work in the morning paper, and he fantasizes about leaving his job, as his boss, Ed Murphy, treats him horribly. Then Ted remembers that he fibbed in his author bio, stating that he was an adjunct professor of psychology, instead of just a tutor, while attending college. Meanwhile, the wealthy Chester Ambrose peruses the same review, taking special note of a quote about the devil: “Such a being does not exist. Rather, it is only the...tortured thoughts of our most inner psyche, the Id.” Chester courts the fledgling author, offering him access to gorgeous women and celebrities in his club, The Other Side. Eventually, Chester and other diabolical beings hatch a plan to blackmail Ted into writing a second book—one that admits the devil is, in fact, real. However, a strange dog named Mac, who loves watching baseball, and a woman named Annette, whom Ted saves from a speeding car, will help him navigate various horrors orchestrated by Chester. In this novel, Hickman takes a wry look at fame and the glittering prizes that could cause someone to sell their soul. For the most part, though, the story maintains a light tone as it addresses such theological issues, only hinting at humanity’s darker impulses. That said, at one point the naïve Ted does explore The Other Side (alongside scantily clad escorts Mandi and Candi), which he soon finds to be a place of both pleasure and pain. Interestingly, the narrative often feels as if it’s set in a platonic ideal of 1960s America; for example, Ted’s co-worker Jessica is a “self-professed ‘groovy girl,’ who wore miniskirts, go-go boots, and the new perfume, Patchoulie.”
A clever fantasy featuring a protagonist guided by logic and his better angels.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 367
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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New York Times Bestseller
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
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IndieBound Bestseller
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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