An earnest but ultimately underdeveloped pastiche.
In Klein’s novel, a group of estranged middle-aged Californians reunite as expatriates in Mexico.
Seven years ago, two unmarried couples—Jack Carter and Chloe, and Owen Brookes and Anna—were the best of friends. They lived it up in beach towns around San Diego and took trips together to Baja California. After Jack and Anna had a brief sexual tryst, both couples split up, and the four went their separate ways. Since then, former journalist Jack became a bestselling novelist, while Owen made his name as a photographer braving war zones for Time magazine. When Owen shows up unexpectedly on Jack’s porch in Del Mar, California, Jack is initially anxious, but the two immediately fall back into an easy friendship. Owen has a month off from work, and he convinces Jack to get the rest of the gang back together for a trip to Rosarito, Mexico—just like in the old days. Anna, now a wealthy, recently divorced mother of two, agrees to come, as does Chloe, now a successful painter. “Everything was exactly as I remembered it,” Jack marvels while describing Rosarito. “This was Mexico and Mexico does not change, the world merely evolves around it…” The trip is so enjoyable that the group persuade themselves that the expat life in Mexico is what they need to be happy. With Anna’s kids in tow, the reconciled couples resettle in the small Yucatan village of San Rafael. At first, Jack loves it—he’s writing up a storm—but then Owen convinces him to put his journalism hat back on and investigate some fighting in nearby Chiapas, which separates the group. Have things really changed for these old friends, or are they fooling themselves?
Klein’s muscular prose will appeal to fans of a certain tradition of American fiction; the story is apparently set in modern times, but Jack and the other characters often speak and narrate as if they’re in an Ernest Hemingway novel: “ ‘Anna’s a damn good woman,’ I said. ‘Damn good. Too good for the likes of me. Funny, but I’ve been haunted my whole life by kind and good women.’ A sudden feeling of ablution flushed through me as I membered the innumerable days Owen and I had talked about such things.” Those who aren’t fans of this style, though, may find that Jack and Owen’s opinions about what’s wrong with the world and the people in it aren’t very scintillating. It’s a short novel at a little more than 130 pages in length, and its narrative moves along quickly. However, the balance of the story feels skewed; there’s far too much about Jack’s history at the San Diego Sun and his memories of his absent father, for example, and not nearly enough about his relationship with Chloe. Just as its characters are essentially playing at being expats, one may feel that book is playing at being a Graham Greene or Malcolm Lowry opus—evoking such works’ moods and concerns without providing their underlying pathos.
An earnest but ultimately underdeveloped pastiche.Pub Date: July 24, 2022
ISBN: 9781736810170
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Del Gato
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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