This stimulating tale emphasizes that a change of perspective will be necessary to save Earth.
A philosopher with extraterrestrial connections struggles to get humans to think about the big picture before they destroy the world over petty differences in this third installment of an SF series.
In Anthony’s novel, Tobias Sinclair, the founder of Earth’s New Science movement, finds himself doubting his choice to jump on a spaceship headed for the planet Jevmmuns. He did so after Stokes, a human from Jevmmuns, warned him he was in grave danger. After arriving on the planet, Tobias discovers that Jevmmuns’ ruling council and its allies, the alien race Naku, have chosen him to help them make first contact with Earth. He sours on this prospect after learning that he has been telepathically coerced to overlook his legal practice and family to become Jevmmuns’ point person. But after finding out that the radical group Children of the Light is seeking to abduct Tobias, the council rushes him back to Earth. His first broadcast features Goren, one of the Naku, but it fizzles with a hoax-weary public. Then Phillip Celdy, a COL agent, attempts to shoot Tobias. Tobias’ son, David, and Phillip himself are shot in the process. When the council’s rescue starship arrives to teleport Tobias, David, and Phillip, humans worldwide start to believe the aliens are real. Still, it takes a crash landing at the United Nations to really cement first contact. In this engaging and thought-provoking volume, things start to turn around for Tobias, who is almost too idealistic to be believable. He realizes that the concepts that are popping into his head are based on Jevmmuns society. In addition, people start to accept his message after they get to see a flying saucer a time or two. He even falls in love with a Jevmmuns human, Beatrice. But before all that happens, he and his family and friends get shot at quite a few times in this action-packed tale. Anthony’s book title is a timely nod to a phrase that’s been heard all too often in recent months. Unfortunately, the problem referenced here is humanity’s arbitrary divisions, which result in unnecessary conflicts and eventually infect Jevmmuns. The author’s skillfully woven story will make readers question why small things cause large wars.
This stimulating tale emphasizes that a change of perspective will be necessary to save Earth.Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9743600-3-4
Page Count: 237
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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