Good versus evil square off in this lengthy but effective morality tale.
Past violently meets present in this terrifying thriller anchored in Indigenous folklore.
The soul of author Scott’s debut novel, set in the Canadian Northwest in the 1970s, is Sgt. Nick Harden. The American expat and Vietnam War veteran hasn’t been right since a serial killer murdered his teenage daughter, Lee Ann. Her death led to Nick’s separation from his wife, Dorna. Also, he has been largely missing in action from command of the Blakeslee Royal Canadian Mounted Police substation, now run by Constable Erik Ellsworth, who is saddled with incompetent legacy hire Constable Anson. Several developments change Nick’s trajectory. First, one night on patrol, Nick picks up Tia, a mysterious teen who encourages him to consider imperceptible supernatural beings. Next, a double homicide doesn’t fit the pattern of the earlier murders. Finally, a deranged Dorna returns with a dangerous scheme to use herself as bait to lure her daughter’s killer. Nick and Erik catch a break when they meet Susie, an Indigenous woman who escaped from the serial killer and has clues to share. Erik gets closer to solving the double homicide, but puts himself in great danger in the process, and Nick’s troubles mount after Dorna disappears to put her plan in motion. Finally, the two Mounties reunite to search for Dorna, learning to embrace the paranormal in the process. In this volume, Scott echoes Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Fortunately, Nick and Susie are able to observe the malevolent spirits of the dark Earth that wreak chaos on the Blakeslee region, while others, like Dorna and Erik, soon come to believe that such spirits exist. The villains here aren’t born bad but have their souls commandeered by evil entities. One flaw of this work is a tendency to introduce potentially interesting characters—only to kill them off a few chapters later. Also, the novel leaves several loose threads; an incomplete ending for a potent adventure.
Good versus evil square off in this lengthy but effective morality tale.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-65-302280-7
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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
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