A rollicking ride that combines political realism with flights of satire.
The unlikely head of an energy company struggles to survive ruthless competition and environmentalists’ protests in Pepper’s in this third novel in a series.
Lindsey Harper Crowe becomes the chair of New York City–based Crowe Power Company, a “global energy goliath,” after she ousts her incompetent husband, Robbie, from the role. However, her newfound power comes with an equal share of burdens; although Robbie left the company in dire financial trouble, the “deposed king”will stop at nothing to return to the throne. Lindsey also sees her daughter, Missy, as a traitor who makes common cause with “Planetistas” protesting the very company whose cash fills her trust fund. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jessica Holtgren is putting the squeeze on the entire industry; she’s portrayed as an empty talking head fronting equally empty policies. The true existential threat to Lindsey’s company, though, comes from Harold “Hacksaw Harry” Crenshaw, a hedge fund manager who aims to slice the company into pieces under the disingenuous guise of ecological responsibility. Lindsey hires a world-weary public relations expert, Marty McGarry, to help spin a palatable narrative for the public, while also exploring a new form of fusion technology that could move the world past dependence on fossil fuels. Over the course of the novel, Pepper irreverently and intelligently exposes ways in which some calls to environmental integrity are often corporate or political expressions of a will to power. The satirical focus is not on a commitment to ecological obligation, but rather how it can be twisted by selfish hypocrisy. For example, Missy is as discomfited by her “deeply embarrassing wealth,” even as she is dependent upon it. The author has a tendency to aim low with his comedy, which can be crude; Lindsey’s tenure is described as proof “you don’t need some remnants of founder jizz coursing through your veins to run Crowe Power.” Despite this, the novel’s farcical depiction of American politics is often as humorous as it is astute.
A rollicking ride that combines political realism with flights of satire.Pub Date: May 14, 2022
ISBN: 979-8436592312
Page Count: 251
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
Simply charming.
A lovable gaggle of competitive quilters attempts to defy the odds.
The ladies of the Ogden Quilters Association are gearing up for another Simpton Family Quilting Extravaganza, and this year’s nationwide competition is extra special: It’s taking place just an hour away in Smithfield, Utah. For Betty Lou Dearden, OQA’s leader and most faithful member, who never misses a Wednesday quilting night and delights in reading the bylaws, this is a dream come true—a chance to put Utah quilting on the map. But beneath her bubbly surface, Betty Lou is struggling—longtime member Leera Smeeth has been passive aggressively shooting down Betty Lou’s ideas and attacking her sense of self for years (see: a particularly biting comment about her beloved peach bathroom); her children rarely visit; and her husband’s health is declining. And to top it off, OQA is down a member since Terry Blackfoot left following the oft-referenced but never explained “needle incident.” OQA’s remaining members—flighty but lovable Lucy Jones; dependable Diane Williams and her roommate, Alice Flagstaff; and innovative Candace Braithwaite—need more support. Enter Byron Grant, a gay sewing store manager who deals in rumor and gossip as much as in thread and batting, and his best friend, shy, artistic Rob, both younger than the youngest OQA member by about 30 years. Don’t worry, there’s nothing in the bylaws expressly prohibiting men. And so this quirky group of artisans attempts to dethrone the always-winning, clearly evil Logan Quilters Society (“We don’t hate anyone!...We just don’t prefer to associate with cheaters”), all the while wrestling with interpersonal conflict, trauma, and, let’s face it, a few tacky ideas. The plot is silly and largely predictable, but McCann’s prose is bursting at the seams with humor and genuinely tender, touching moments. You’ll root for these misfits from Page 1.
Simply charming.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798890920461
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Torrey House Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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