Fans of war stories and nautical tales will enjoy this one.
War, love, and the sea intermix in this novel of bravery and conscience.
Capt. Stephen Rensselaer is overqualified to lead Patrol Coastal Ship 15, the Athena, but that is his assignment. While a hot war blazes in the Middle East, he and his vessel are assigned to the Indian Ocean near the Horn of Africa. His patrol craft is “best suited to the littorals,” while his crew, including SEALs, itch for action. They need not worry, as they engage in seven battles of increasing ferocity, ultimately resulting in Rensselaer’s trial for a capital crime. In one instance, a French cruise ship is hijacked by Islamic State group terrorists off the Somali coast. IS starts butchering the passengers one by one, drawing out the process to maximize worldwide publicity and fear. The Athena is in the area, but the president of the United States expressly forbids her to come to the aid of the ship. Rensselaer disobeys and follows his conscience. He is highly educated and loves to quote Shakespeare to his puzzled subordinates. “Our indiscretions sometimes serve us well, Horatio,” he tells a bemused officer, “and praisèd be rashness for it.” Comments like that fire up the ship’s gossip machine: “It was in fact a lot of fun to think that the old man was slightly off his nut.” Indeed, he is crazy about Katy Farrar, whom he meets early on, plans to marry, and thinks about in quiet moments during their inevitable separation. “Katy alone was worth all the blue oceans and all the bright stars,” he muses. The yarn hits a snag 60 pages in when the author stops for 10 pages to describe Athena’s architecture. Skip to Page 70 if you don’t want to read about it, he writes, but it interrupts the story’s momentum. Better he weave it in or tack it on at the end. But the action is terrific, and despite occasional verbosity, the writing is as good as anything else in the genre.
Fans of war stories and nautical tales will enjoy this one.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781419769085
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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