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LET THEM WHIMPER

A FULLY JUSTIFIED (IN NO WAY PERSONAL) ARGUMENT FOR THE ABANDONMENT OF HUMANKIND

An epic, entertaining fusion of hilarity, unease, and memorably eccentric characters.

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In this debut satire, people in a dystopian nation unwittingly cross paths with a fiendish being who’s crusading for the Apocalypse.

Park ranger Trent Taphor cares for his twin brother, Calvin, who has Down syndrome. That doesn’t mean that Trent is too preoccupied to notice that his fellow Californians are evacuating their homes on account of the “anomaly” popping up on the Doppler radar. On the same night that the mass of “goopy dots” appears, Calvin vanishes, soon after encountering creepy, perpetually smiling Mr. Moony. Not far away, a local cult, certain this event spells the impending end of days, names member Don Philly, a writer who’s actually undercover for research, as the “Chosen” one to face whatever doom awaits. Ten years later, the U.S. has become the Divided States of America while a series of calamities, including merciless storms and another civil war, have shaken the country. Calvin is effectively imprisoned with others whom Mr. Moony dubs “the significants,” while Trent and Philly, both having apparently swallowed one of those dots (which are even worse than they initially seemed), are affected in a disturbing fashion. The twins and this so-called Chosen writer most assuredly have links to a diabolical plan that Mr. Moony has brewing, in which he’ll ensure the Apocalypse transpires. Doing so requires more people whom he draws together—hacker and former reality TV star Love; her psychedelic therapist and former best friend, Yew; and high school principal Gary Mustafa. Combine all of them with recently christened Eden’s End, a quasi-utopia on the DSA’s West Coast, and Mr. Moony may very well get the Apocalypse he’s craving.

The first third of Enterante’s 446-page novel, which centers primarily on Trent, Calvin, and Philly, leans toward horror. This element comes courtesy of Mr. Moony’s chilling introduction in the pitch-black night, the inexplicable “storm” aimed at California, and Trent’s eerie tendency to converse with his meat cleaver, Dex. But the story changes direction following a time jump and the corresponding exposition that the narrative sprints through. The original trio sadly fades into a gradually expanding cast, with the plot becoming more devoted to unraveling mysteries and connecting characters in sometimes surprising ways. Of course, this new focus also prompts darkly comedic turns that lampoon such topical issues as America’s political polarization and the prevalence of social media and technology. For example, the DSA’s three politically charged “Zones”—Red, White, and Blue—abide by the oxymoronic Treaty of the Divided Alliance. Such drollness runs throughout the book, from Philly on the phone with his wife in Florida and oblivious that she’s clearly enjoying someone else’s company to Yew taking a call during a therapy session and convincing her patient that the ringtone was an LSD hallucination. Enterante takes advantage of the futuristic setting, with robotic Skeeter-5000s joining the cast and someone using tech to provoke a tragedy. This work’s curious structure employs an unknown narrator who adds periodic asides to an omniscient narrative (“Mind You, I’m nearly finished with my tale’s whole setup—just so You know”). While most readers will work out who this figure is, the narration leads to an unforgettable and truly worthy ending.

An epic, entertaining fusion of hilarity, unease, and memorably eccentric characters.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023

ISBN: 9798987733806

Page Count: 458

Publisher: Oblivion Press

Review Posted Online: March 11, 2024

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  • New York Times Bestseller

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THE WEDDING PEOPLE

Uneven but fitfully amusing.

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  • New York Times Bestseller

Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.

Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.

Uneven but fitfully amusing.

Pub Date: July 30, 2024

ISBN: 9781250899576

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024

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MY FRIENDS

A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.

An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.

Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”

A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.

Pub Date: May 6, 2025

ISBN: 9781982112820

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025

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