An intriguing but uneven meditation on loneliness and depression.
Two strangers examine their lives and find solace with each other in this monologue-filled novel.
While taking his dog for a stroll, Jim Patersondiscovers that what he thought was a rooftop umbrella is a woman standing still. It is the night of a blue moon, and Jim, a lonely widower, is mesmerized. As he begins his walk home, the narrative turns to the woman on the roof, Gladys, who hopes Jim won’t leave. The story switches back to Jim, who, doubting himself, returns to discover that he was right. Elated, Jim sits down and begins to “talk” to the figure, whom he calls “Silhouette.” Jim’s talking takes the form of an internal monologue directed at Gladys, who, in turn, similarly “talks to” Jim via her own set of internal monologues. The two tell each other about their childhoods, professions, beliefs, loneliness, and depression. Gladys, who is taking time off from her job as a “registered health care provider,” contemplates suicide. Her hope that Jim will acknowledge her continually delays her plans. As the two direct their thoughts to each other, something resembling intimacy grows. Things finally come to a head one night when Jim decides to wave and Gladys resolves to kill herself. In this thought-provoking narrative, Swingle illuminates the impact of depression, offering many rich and evocative details. But the author fails to make his characters endearing; they are more concerned with their own troubles than curious about each other. For example, as Jim tries to gather enough courage to wave, he equates his effort to resisting the Nazis: “The first step is to wave, of course. Sure, I would make a choice to resist the Nazis—why can’t I get the courage to wave?” Only when Gladys makes her suicide attempt does Swingle skillfully draw in his readers: “ ‘Stop stalling,’ I yell….‘Put the shitty clothes in the hamper and let them stink and rot and...oh, for God’s sake they’ll just be thrown out anyway, you sickening piece of...oh, I don’t know.’ ”
An intriguing but uneven meditation on loneliness and depression.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2021
ISBN: 979-8451441466
Page Count: 142
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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