Enjoyable, funny, and thought-provoking speculative fiction.
Hincker presents an SF story of first contact, human survival, and banking.
When aliens first arrived on Earth in the year 2047, economist Diana Roark, the CEO of Roark Pharmaceuticals, was down on the ocean floor on a near-fatal deep-water bioprospecting mission that “shattered” an arm and a leg. As a result, she missed the alien visitation; three hours after they showed up, they were gone, having provided Augmentation that made all bodies on Earth run at peak efficiency and mysterious Obelisks that provided all of humanity’s basic needs. Thirty years later, the whole world has changed: “Why work, they had reasoned, at meaningless careers, when food and water were free, health care unnecessary, and when the natural elements had been conquered?” But for Diana, everything remained the same; as far as she knows, she’s the only human who didn’t go through Augmentation. Now 60—and unlike everyone else, showing her age—she has bone cancer that’s about to end her life, so she decides to go on the secret vacation she’s been planning. But before she can fulfill her last wishes, she’s kidnapped by an operative from the World Bank who mistakenly believes that she knows more about the aliens than anyone else does. She’s rescued by Robert, a foulmouthed alien account executive who resembles broccoli and who tells Diana she has only 48 hours left to save Earth. What follows is a unique, frantic, fun, and thought-provoking SF tale that takes surprising twists and turns. Often, it delivers unexpectedly humorous observations: “It wasn’t much of a plan, but economists were notorious for unreasonable passions and commitment to untestable theories.” Hincker essentially offers a book about banking and economists—who are both the villains and heroes of this piece—that’s anything but dry or dogmatic. Quite the contrary, it’s a zany romp with heart, reminiscent of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1980) and its sequels as it follows Diana in her earnest journey of healing and heroism. An open ending promises more delights to come.
Enjoyable, funny, and thought-provoking speculative fiction.Pub Date: May 1, 2023
ISBN: 9798987630105
Page Count: 316
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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