A chilling, flawlessly executed, and emotionally taxing portrayal of a broken psyche.
A man addicted to social media depicts his frightening reality in Sarvas’ unsettling novel.
“I have nowhere to go, and too much to hate right in front of me,” announces the narrator, explaining why he walked away from his life in order to spend his days in a dark room, naked and glued to his computer screen. It’s not a sense of online community that keeps UGMan (his Twitter handle) from engaging with the real world (in fact, he calls other perpetually online users “mouthbreathers”); he is instead driven by compulsion and a deep-rooted anger at perceived enemies like a right-wing, bow-tied commentator or a duplicitous senator, just two on his ever-growing list of “Those Who Must Die.” Over the course of UGMan’s different tirades, narrative threads emerge, including unhappy memories from his childhood, the loss of his daughter and wife, and his ill-fated time playing guitar in a cover band—but UGMan’s reflections on the real-world connections he has lost are constantly punctuated by notifications pulling him back to the virtual. The senator he hates dies (“Much speaking ill of the dead, I note with approval,” he observes), and the right-wing commentator goes missing. Could this all have something to do with the only person ever to like one of his tweets? Is the FBI really looking for him, or did his sleep-deprived brain imagine that? UGMan never quite earns the reader’s sympathy, but Sarvas certainly earns respect for the stunning complexity of his protagonist—UGMan’s narration achieves great highs of wit and literary reference before plummeting down to the most basic references and internet-speak. That same rollercoaster is reflected in his fractured psychology; as UGMan ricochets from self-aware to complete delusion and paranoia, the reader also starts to question reality. The novel boldly avoids following any of the more predictable plot threads developing on the periphery of UGMan’s perspective—Sarvas has made UGMan’s acerbic mind the primary focus. It is a striking creation, but the novel’s relentless intensity leaves little room for readers to feel anything other than despair. As UGMan himself says, “It’s all quite unpleasant, isn’t it?”
A chilling, flawlessly executed, and emotionally taxing portrayal of a broken psyche.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9798988282983
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Itna Press
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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