A jokey, messy novel about a college instructor who’s in over his head.
A college professor takes on a criminal hacking ring that’s targeting undergrads in Price’s debut campus thriller.
Saul Sokolsky—Solly to his friends—earned a doctorate in physics at Caltech, but in truth, he’s more of a generalist. After Solly has worked at tech startups for a few years, the death of his sister leads him to reevaluate his life’s trajectory and return to school for an English degree. Now, at age 38, he has a permanent (but not tenured) job teaching rhetoric and literature at Caltech, where he’ll also serve as a resident adviser for Blacker House—which means he’ll live in a dorm while mentoring students in the non-academic aspects of university life. Solly has been instructed not to get romantically involved with any of his students (a fair warning, given he dated an undergraduate while he was a graduate student in his 30s). He’s also been warned to keep an eye out for any unsavory characters hanging around campus attempting to hire undergrad tech whizzes to hack into computer systems (a skill that many Caltech students possess). Solly becomes infatuated—not with an undergrad, thankfully, but with a gorgeous, blond, 29-year-old Polish postdoc named Ewa “Mia” Kulpa, who, for some reason, is extremely charmed by Solly. He also takes a platonic interest in a Blacker House student named Darryl Lagerstrom, a peculiar but highly intelligent boy who’s quietly grappling with the suicide of his older brother. It turns out Darryl’s former computing partner, Fang Lou, recently dropped out of school to work with a mob-affiliated hacking outfit run by a mysterious (and very dangerous) European named Sashi. What’s more, the FBI—interested in Fang because of her father’s status as a well-connected Chinese billionaire—is desperate to find her before something bad happens. Will Solly’s habit of bending the rules help avert an escalating crisis? Or is he about to learn the hard way that even the best intentions sometimes lead to dire consequences?
Price’s witty and rapid-fire prose is loaded with quips, philosophical musings, and paeans to his alma mater, Caltech: “Wednesday, the lame-duck day, started way before I was ready for it. Mia called at 6:30 a.m. (Is there a Polish word for sleep?) She said that we should have breakfast together. She clarified: off campus…I told her I’d call, then pick her up on Wilson, right off California, as soon as I could get away.” The author is perhaps overly fond of nicknames—Mia Kulpa is truly groan-inducing—and there’s a general dad-joke tone to the novel that some readers may find off-putting. This is a shame, since Solly’s jaunty, rambling narration, far more than the book’s convoluted crime plot, is the primary source of the novel’s pleasure. Despite the multitude of deaths, the emotional stakes of the book never feel very high—indeed, in the case of one death, the stakes should probably feel much higher. Still, those looking for a breezy campus novel will find much here to enjoy.
A jokey, messy novel about a college instructor who’s in over his head.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2023
ISBN: 9798890274960
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.
Second of the Walter Nash thrillers—following Nash Falls (2025)—in which the remade hero seeks vengeance.
Due to urgent circumstances, Nash has bulked himself up to become the “muscled and tatted fighting machine” now known as Dillon Hope. His antagonist is Victoria Steers, a global drug dealer who wants him dead. Not realizing his new identity, she enlists Hope to free her mother, Masuyo, from a prison in Myanmar. As an incentive, she shoots one of her associates and threatens to frame Hope for the murder unless he complies. She also wants him to find Nash. He in turn wants to kill Victoria to avenge the death of his innocent daughter, Maggie. “If I go down,” he muses, “I’m taking others with me. Starting with Victoria Steers.” He learns that Victoria had killed all her siblings to eliminate business competition. But as heartless as Victoria is, her mother, Masuyo, is even worse. In league with the Chinese government in a perverse plan to kill as many Americans as possible through fentanyl overdose, she shows contempt for Victoria for her perceived weaknesses. Readers won’t find many happy family relationships here: mother-daughter, father-son, husband-wife—all fraught. Hope’s employer, who accompanies him to Myanmar, is a billionaire chief executive with a dodgy past (i.e., probably killed his father). And there’s a mega-billionaire with an astronomical IQ and ditch-deep morals who, putting it mildly, does not have America’s best interests at heart. As a teenager, he’d defeated two world chess champions; as an adult, he regards his dealings with the world in terms of master chess moves. Only one character seems truly decent and credible—Hiroko, Victoria’s former nanny and lifelong companion, who provides Hope with valuable insights into the Steers’ background, which is partly Chinese. Searing grudges, simple evil, and not-so-simple misunderstandings carry the cast through this complex, action-packed plot. This sequel ties out the loose ends dangling in Nash Falls, which would be helpful to read first. To get to the requisite ending, though, Baldacci takes pains to surprise the reader. It works but often feels forced.
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781538758021
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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