Cringy, amusing, terrifying. The complete package.
A lonely middle-aged hoarder discovers that her high school crush is attending her AA meetings in Glass’ thriller.
Junie Oldham—nicknamed “Old Ham” back in high school—lives in squalor and knits cat hats that she sells online. She also works in cybersecurity at a local company, where co-workers snicker at her stringy hair and odd outfits, and where she steals their lunches from the refrigerator. Well, don’t leave food in the fridge without your name on it; otherwise it’s fair game, she reckons. Though she’s a teetotaler, Junie attends weekly AA meetings because it’s the one place where people are kind to her. One day, Blake Patton, her high school obsession, shows up. Not only does he not recognize her (different hair style, weight gain); he also doesn’t see her steal his phone, which he leaves unlocked. Junie sees photos of Blake’s wife, their McMansion, their daughter Cece. She accesses his finances and reads his texts, and later uses an app on Blake’s phone to unlock his back door and turn off his security alarm. She eats leftover birthday cake from his fridge—“It’s vanilla. Boring, but that tracks”—and realizes that she wants to share that boring, vanilla life with him. If her plan to get Blake to love her and regret rejecting her in high school fails, Junie will “have to move on to plan B and ruin his life.” No surprise, it’s plan B. Fans of the book and movie Misery (1990) and the miniseries Baby Reindeer (2024) are among those who will enjoy this book, which never lets up on Junie’s obsession and her unwavering self-confidence that runs counter to what others think of her. Glass has created a memorable train-wreck character: pathetic and horrifying, but one who can’t be ignored. Bonus: It’s a fast read with a great ending.
Cringy, amusing, terrifying. The complete package.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9798347023417
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.
Dead bodies turn up in the first sentence of the prologue in McFadden’s latest domestic thriller.
The mystery of who died is at the pulsating heart of this propulsive tale. As Chapter 1 begins, Naomi arrives home to find the locks changed on the front door of the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Jeremy, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy. Jeremy steps out the front door and convinces Naomi to move out while he has their home renovated, a plan Naomi knows nothing about. It’s all a ruse, though, as the next day Jeremy tells her he wants a divorce. Naomi is shellshocked and soon discovers that Jeremy is having an affair with Veronica, a beautiful younger woman. What seems at first like a stereotypical story about a man who leaves his wife turns into something else when Naomi decides she’ll do anything to get Veronica away from Jeremy and Teddy, and Veronica decides to fight for what she thinks she deserves. Fans of stalker novels will cringe with delight as creepy things start to happen. Teddy’s stuffed elephant, a gift from Veronica, is found impaled on a kitchen knife; Naomi suspects Jeremy is gaslighting her and that Veronica tried to poison her. A weird confrontation among Jeremy, Veronica, and Naomi at Teddy’s birthday party, to which Naomi shows up uninvited, is priceless. There are three main characters, and any or all of them may be unreliable narrators. Packing the plot with dark, gasp-inducing twists, McFadden outdoes herself in a story about how highly emotional people engage in risky behavior to get what they want—but in this novel, for better or worse, not everyone will survive.
Trust no one in this over-the-top tale of deception and revenge.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249631
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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