An ambitious, if sometimes hazy, ecological/urban tale that comes straight out of left field.
A surreal comedic novel about a baseball fan’s bizarre adventure, set in modern-day Los Angeles.
Laemmle presents Icarus J. Spinoza: a left-handed aficionado of America’s pastime who has a penchant for marijuana and tacos. He lives with his girlfriend, Fiona Dam, in the Frogtown neighborhood of central LA. One evening, Icarus fails to return from walking the couple’s dog, MacGuffin, and Fiona is understandably concerned; Frogtown is near the Los Angeles River, a body of water “generally derided as a real dud, little better than an open-air sewage system,”and Schlitz-guzzling ruffians and other unsavory types commonly hang out on its shores. As Fiona begins her search for her boyfriend and her dog, readers learn that Icarus is, in fact, on a strange journey of his own. Icarus wakes up by the river, sans MacGuffin, where he’s met by a talking goldendoodle named Charon. It turns out that the canine is the Charon—the mythological figure responsible for ferrying the dead to the afterlife. Icarus isn’t dead, but he would like to find his own dog, so he and Charon venture further into the seedy locales surrounding the river. It’s eventually revealed that a particularly sinister coyote, who’s been “radicalizing some of the local canines,” according to Charon, wants to flood the city. This rambunctious tale manages to include bits of real-life history, philosophical discussion, humorous illustrations by Keynan (often featuring dogs), and, for better or worse, plenty of instances of defecation. The combination makes for a tale that offers readers an uncommonly irreverent look at the City of Angels. Its weirdness can result in a tangled narrative, at times; for instance, the portions that lean heavily on Greek mythology are often humorous, but they aren’t always clear in their intent, as when the mighty Poseidon takes the form of a beaver who, for some reason, has a keen interest in seeing human breasts. There are also more obscure entities, such as Menoetius and Polyphemus, which may not be familiar to those uninitiated in the classics. In the end, though, readers will come away with a new appreciation for a place as strange as the creatures—real and imaginary—that call it home.
An ambitious, if sometimes hazy, ecological/urban tale that comes straight out of left field.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2021
ISBN: 979-8468929452
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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