A captivating page-turner that raises more questions than it answers.
An estranged father and daughter try to reconnect 25 years after she mysteriously disappeared for a week while they were camping in Mount Rainier National Park.
The heart of Rock’s latest novel is the relationship between 76-year-old Benjamin Hanson and his 36-year-old daughter, Helen. When Helen was 11, she went missing for a week under mysterious circumstances while she and Benjamin were camping in the woods near Mount Rainier. Attempting to reconnect, Helen visits Benjamin at his Portland, Oregon, home. She either can’t or won’t talk to her father in person about her disappearance. Instead, she installs a machine with custom software that records him as he’s speaking, transcribes his words, and delivers them for her to process at her own pace. She responds by fax or phone. The incident and subsequent time apart have left them both unable to articulate details or emotions to one another. While Helen can’t even bring herself to speak of the camping trip, Benjamin suggests that they go camping again, and in his preparations for this ill-suggested outing, he encounters Melissa, a transient woman with questionable motivations. Something’s off about Melissa, and her actions waver between altruistic and opportunistic, but as she learns of the history between Benjamin and Helen, she becomes a willing substitute in Benjamin’s would-be plans to re-create whatever it was that happened to him and his daughter 25 years ago. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that it’s never been about the reconciliation of Benjamin and Helen but rather the ongoing relationships both they and Melissa have with death, the deaths of loved ones closest to them, and the search for answers in trying to deal with their losses. Its best elements, like its supernatural overtures, are reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999).
A captivating page-turner that raises more questions than it answers.Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-641-29343-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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