Brandon proves that even an impossible situation with only one outcome can suddenly yield an unexpected solution.
An old debt threatens to upend a young ex-con's efforts to start his life over again.
"Nobody's even," aging crime boss Arthur Bonne tells the kid standing in his office. "There's guys I help and guys I hurt. You fall in that first bunch. I'm asking you to do something for me, and if you do it right and don't perform a full wop opera in my office, I won't ask you to do nothing else." The kid is Pratt Zimmer; he's just 25, but he's lived and lost enough to know better than to believe Bonne will ever leave him alone. Pratt's fresh from a three-year jail stint for his part in a botched car theft that set Bonne back $250,000, and now Bonne expects more from him than just jail time to make them square again. Added to the money debt is an emotional one: Bonne partly blames Pratt for the death of his son, Matty, even though Pratt was behind bars by the time his childhood friend's indulgence in too many drugs got the better of him. "It could only be punishment," Pratt realizes about the job. "That was the only thing that made sense. Forced penance for Matty." In this novel and his others—especially Arkansas (2008) and Citrus County (2010)—Brandon explores the difficult circumstances surrounding desperate characters in humid, forgotten corners of the Southeast. Here, he's crafted a compelling thriller set around Tampa in the 1990s as a young ex-con struggles to start his life over, even though the deck is stacked against him. It's not just the job Bonne tells him to finish by the end of June—kill an accountant who's stealing from Bonne—that's the problem. Pratt's still grieving the loss of his parents in a boating accident, coping with the guilt he partly accepts for not doing more to protect Matty from himself, and nursing a smoldering love for Kallie, Matty's ex. He's also facing a string of lowlife thugs, drug dealers, and a dirty cop as he tries to figure out how not to kill the accountant and still free himself from Bonne's debt. Brandon keeps the story moving at a brisk pace, and his choice of a 1990s setting is especially interesting: It reminds readers how different—and how difficult—things like a stakeout were in a cellphone-free, GPS-less world.
Brandon proves that even an impossible situation with only one outcome can suddenly yield an unexpected solution.Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2024
ISBN: 9781963270075
Page Count: 250
Publisher: McSweeney’s
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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