A sometimes-playful but also serious caper novel starring a memorable group of heroes.
Grey presents an offbeat heist novel featuring a cast of characters with disabilities.
Thirty-year-old Nicholas Murphy has built his life around taking care of his fraternal-twin brother, Vinnie, who has Down syndrome; he also helps care for a group of others with disabilities, whom he refers to affectionately as the Family. Garth Cartwright is a six-foot-four Special Olympics weightlifter who is Deaf and grew up with developmental delays. William has autism and severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and a fixation on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Floyd McCallister, who uses a wheelchair, is a genius with acquired savant syndrome; he’s had problems with language and memory after he was struck by lightning. The Family all live in a house together with Nicholas, a certified nurse practitioner, at the helm. They’re prone to disagreements, but they’re generally happy together and are better off than they would be in an institution. The arrangement comes crashing down, though, when Garth’s wealthy mother Agnes dies, because she’d been providing financial backing to keep the house running. Garth’s cruel sister, Charity, decides to cut that funding, which results in an emergency situation. With few resources at their disposal, the Family decides to do the unexpected and rob a bank. Grey’s narrative ably melds serious issues into a lighthearted heist narrative. For example, the story makes clear that the Family would rather not resort to crime, but they exist in a world that’s short on empathy; Nicholas serves as Floyd’s speech therapist because “state funding cuts made his real sessions financially impossible.” The story also tackles disability-related topics with frankness; one character notes, “We don’t have superpowers, we have disabilities,” and the work is straightforward about characters’ sexuality. The plot takes a leisurely route to the main action, which makes the book feel longer than it is; for example, readers learn many details about Vinnie’s struggles at his restaurant job before the main action of the plot kicks in. Once it does, though, readers will be engaged by the question of whether the Family will manage to stay intact.
A sometimes-playful but also serious caper novel starring a memorable group of heroes.Pub Date: April 22, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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