An inventive, humorous adventure into the cosmically esoteric with a flawed narrator whom readers will root for.
Seagard presents a genre-blending cosmic thriller about a self-destructive man who makes strange discoveries in a sun-dappled, modern-day Los Angeles.
When readers first encounter Miles “Mori” Morhart, naked and drinking profusely by a pool in a small California backyard, they already know that, in a month’s time, Mori will be missing and presumed dead. Not only that: He’ll also be the main suspect in the unsolved disappearances of four adults in L.A. between the ages of 25 and 38. Mori doesn’t know any of this yet, though; he came to the West Coast from Austin, Texas, to do little more than drink “creamy chardonnay” and lots of gin and vodka—and, of course, to smoke such copious amounts of cannabis that he even raises eyebrows at the local dispensary. Before long, the situation becomes clearer as readers learn of Mori’s daughter, whose messages he ignores; his ex-wife, whom he thinks he’s seeing in random bars; and his binge drinking—all symptoms of a life left behind. Put simply, Mori has come to California to drink himself to death, and he’s successfully pursuing this goal until a random voice starts speaking in his head, demanding that he “commune” with him—something Mori is unwilling to do until Lili, the attractive and enigmatic owner of the aforementioned dispensary, offers him a special off-menu pre-roll that she says could change his life. After just a hit or two, Mori finds himself more open to communing with the voice, which describes itself as an “esotericist” and part of a group who “specialize in spiritual and metaphysical methods.” The voice is investigating the disappearance of a young woman and her daughter, and it believes Mori can help. But readers know that whatever Mori’s about to do could lead to his death—and Lili will be at the center of it all.
This first volume of Seagard’s planned series bites off quite a lot, but never more than it can chew. The protagonist’s self-deprecation and sense of bewilderment—related in real time, carrying readers along with him—make the work feel breezy and approachable, but these character features also allow Seagard to tell a story with some depth. The story provides readers with laughs and suspense in equal measure, while presenting a narrative that tackles alcohol abuse and the state of California in ways that are recognizable but also deftly avoid cliches. Certain picadilloes in the prose soon become grating due to repetition—most notably, the author’s insistence on beginning many passages of Mori’s narration with the command, “Picture me.” But these moments are intermittent enough that they don’t overwhelm the sense of fun in these pages. Fans of SF and fantasy will find some welcome and familiar elements here, although readers who prefer the most complex and amped-up versions of either genre may find this book’s version a bit unfulfilling. The main emphasis in this novel is on storytelling and characterization, however, both of which unfold in an appealing way.
An inventive, humorous adventure into the cosmically esoteric with a flawed narrator whom readers will root for.Pub Date: March 8, 2024
ISBN: 9798989927913
Page Count: 588
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
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