A readable social novel that effectively examines the consequences of conservative media.
A crusading lawyer attempts to bring down a conservative-radio juggernaut in Elzey’s political novel.
After five decades as a lawyer, Harry Chalberg is about to take on the most important case of his career. The 79-year-old came out of retirement after his son and daughter-in-law were murdered by a White nationalist, and Harry has searched for a way to hold the propagandists that inspired that killer accountable. He finally has the opportunity in Morton v. New Signal News, a lawsuit against the media company that broadcasts programs like the right-wing Cal Brown Show. It’s a long-shot case, but with the help of his longtime assistant, Mariam Katz, Harry hopes to slow the creep of extremism in U.S. politics. However, he’s going up against some powerful people, including the billionaire Austin brothers—who built an international corporate empire out of their father’s Fresno, California–based tractor supply company—and Cal Brown himself, a bombastic radio host who rose from humble origins to the top of the Chicago radio world. He later conquered America with a TV show aimed at people who feel the country’s conservative values are in danger. Can Harry prove that Cal and his backers are contributing to the political violence ripping through America? Elzey’s prose is breezy and smooth, and he proves to be adept at replicating the cadences and arguments of talk-radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh: “Ladies and gentlemen out there in Radioland….Here we go again the snowflakes won’t shut up about socialized medicine and the creation of a Nanny state. Do we want a system like Canada, the UK or France?” The novel effectively manages to dramatize not only the current state of conservative media, but also the ways in which it rose to its current heights of popularity; it does so mainly by relating the backstories of various players. There are elements of the novel that feel a bit too pat, and the characters sometimes come off as stereotypical. Overall, though, the book is a persuasive piece of political fiction.
A readable social novel that effectively examines the consequences of conservative media.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73405-460-6
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Little House Press
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.
Following her father’s sudden death, Aisling Swann is secretly horrified when her mother begins to date again—and she quickly becomes suspicious of this new flame.
Four years ago: A mysterious male narrator reflects upon his relationship with his wife—along with a few pointed comments about how she is aging. It quickly becomes apparent that this self-proclaimed “very pleasant” man is not who he seems; he already has a girlfriend on the side, and he’s playing both women with sob stories about his job and his traumatic past while taking money from them. Even as they get more and more frustrated with his lack of communication during ever-lengthening absences, he still gives them what they want: “a top-notch husband.” In the present day, Ash Swann; her brother, Arlo; and their mother, Nina, mourn the loss of her charismatic father, Paddy, a successful chef with a chain of lucrative restaurants. Nina receives a sympathy note from a man who claims to have worked closely with Paddy in the industry, which leads to a robust online flirtation that moves into the real world about a year after her husband’s death. Ash is living at home, mired in grief as well as her own mental health struggles, and she’s none too happy to see her mom dating—but particularly this handsome, egregiously suave Nick Radcliffe. Ash begins to notice some inconsistencies with his stories and his past, so she enlists Paddy’s ex-girlfriend Jane to help her investigate. Meanwhile, Ash’s story continues to intercut that of the mysterious man who is now married to his former girlfriend—and still up to his old tricks. Jewell’s cutting between past and present certainly allows revelations to ooze out at a slow, controlled pace; even as the reader makes obvious connections, the full picture remains obscure. Jewell has written some incredibly engaging and strong female characters, Nina, Ash, and Jane foremost among them. What would it have been like to split the narrative between them instead of giving so much voice—and thus narrative power—to the male antagonist?
Jewell is absolutely a genius at building suspense, but the “man behaving badly” plot is getting tired.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9781668033876
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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