An intricate but often meandering story of urban life.
McConnel presents a literary novel about interconnected characters in a city “in a current state of decline.”
At a city council meeting, the representatives take up the question of how to develop a wooded area within the city limits. The initial plan is to build a Catholic school there, but is a new school in the community’s best interests? A gentleman named Adam Right objects to having the trees cut down; unbeknownst to most others, his connections to the property are extensive. Maryanne Whipple, another city resident, is a 24-year-old veteran who suffered permanent damage to her legs; she finds solace working with Adamat Open Promises, a family-care facility that sits next to the wooded property. Things aren’t always safe for the people in the neighborhood; for example, a local driver proves adept at using their Oldsmobile as a weapon. Meanwhile, someone called “Saw the Forest” is sending odd e-mails to 20-something nun Sister Alana Orrick, who’s involved in the school building project: “Each email pushed-and-pulled in ways that made her feel a bit out of control, a bit like a piece of taffy.” Other players in this character-driven story include curious reporter Ron List and an older man named Ren Ott who likes to teach teenagers how to fix old cars. The result is a multifaceted, complex setup that allows for unexpected developments and some thought-provoking passages. However, readers attempting to keep track of the many interconnected players and their motivations may find the task difficult, especially as the plot has a tendency to wander into digressions. At one point, for example, Ron attempts to ask Adam questions about the proposed development, which doesn’t produce much information that the reader doesn’t already know; the scene immediately transitions to Ren explaining the workings of a carburetor and the narrator musing on how “Life has a way of making indelible steps in the sand of time without the steps being placed in a purposeful way.” Such progressions are typical of the novel, and they result in a work that can feel hazy.
An intricate but often meandering story of urban life.Pub Date: April 23, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-74-327733-9
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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