A well-conceived and well-executed meditation on trust, privacy, and reputation.
A high school deals with a mass faculty doxxing in this debut literary novel.
Clearwater Community High School has been doxxed. The dating profiles, sexts, and nudes of 41 faculty members have just been published by a local gossip website, and the school has unexpectedly collapsed into complete chaos. The material includes a cache of damaging emails sent by popular English teacher Andy Waters; a series of embarrassing texts documenting an ill-fated fling between the gym coach and the physics teacher; and a video of young math teacher Jennifer Watson having sex with the father of one of her students. It falls to Principal Vince Darten—one of the few Black administrators in the affluent White town of Clearwater, Indiana—to respond to the area’s outrage while attempting to support his teachers: “The community reaction was apoplectic. Daily, he met with more students and parents than he did aggrieved teachers. Some demanded transfers or teacher removals; one student claimed he no longer felt safe in Orchestra and asked for the music program to be suspended or dissolved.” The revelation that their teachers are flawed, sexual beings comes as quite a shock to the students, as does the invasive police investigation to catch the anonymous leaker. When it becomes clear that the “Clearwater Cloudburst” is not a one-time event, the pressure is on for Vince to stop the madness before the school tears itself apart. Rossi’s fluid prose shadows the interior lives of his large cast of characters, as here with Lana Collins, the school’s transgender French teacher: “Unlike many of her fellow educators, Lana greeted the release of her files with a sense of grim resignation rather than shock or betrayal. Her whole life, she reflected, constituted unwanted, forced exposure.” The premise is inspired, and the author plays it out in a way that allows him to grapple with a number of contemporary social cleavages. What’s more, the book speaks to that much older, deeper fear of having one’s true self revealed before the community. While the plot is overly neat at times, it makes for a fun, thought-provoking read.
A well-conceived and well-executed meditation on trust, privacy, and reputation.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2022
ISBN: 979-8986641300
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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