An engaging dark comedy about the dangers of family ties.
A novel focuses on a close-knit, dysfunctional clan of aspiring bank robbers.
In New Jersey, the stock market crash of 1987 signals a rude awakening for Barry Gimmelman. With his job, savings, and house gone, he piles his family into the only thing to escape repossession, the RV lovingly nicknamed Gas-Guzzler, and heads for Florida to stay with his mother-in-law. Narrated by Barry’s 12-year-old son, Aaron, Goldberg’s book is part road novel, part crime story, and part family saga. Aaron and Barry are like two tropical hurricanes feeding off each other’s destructive potential. When Aaron intuits the depth of his family’s financial need, he empties the cash register at a gas station, which gives Barry the idea to enlist the members of his family as accomplices in larger robberies. They include his devoted wife, Judith, and Aaron’s two sisters: boy-crazy Steph and mildly psychopathic Jenny. Driven by love, despair, the desire for adventure, or simply Barry’s charisma, the Gimmelmans soon transform from an average American family into Bonnie and Clyde with kids. Meanwhile, to escape his conscience, Aaron begins dipping into his father’s vial of cocaine stashed in the glove compartment. Goldberg’s writing sparkles with humor and wit, fitting moments of intimacy into otherwise dark scenes. For the family’s first heist, the parents use Judith’s bra, ripped in half, as masks. When Barry tries to sell his wife on a life of crime, he argues, “I’ll tell you why it will work. We are the most mild-mannered-looking squares on the planet. The kids, the RV, my hair, your fanny pack,” to which Judith responds: “You know a purse hurts my back.” As the family’s appetites spiral out of control, the robberies become more and more elaborate, with the jackpot rising exponentially. And even as the excitement brings the deliciously dysfunctional family together, Barry’s unchecked ambition soon develops ominous undertones in this engrossing story. What are the Gimmelmans willing to sacrifice in their quest for financial stability and what will it take to stop them?
An engaging dark comedy about the dangers of family ties.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781685124212
Page Count: 386
Publisher: Level Best Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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