This tale delivers a surreal but bumpy journey through different times and places.
A debut supernatural thriller focuses on one woman’s ability to shift space and time.
Jane Takako Wolfsheim has just had a seizure. Jane was discovered on a park bench by a man named Jorge Luis Borges before being whisked away to the hospital. After a lengthy and difficult recovery, Jane comes across the man who saved her. Borges is an antiques dealer (not the Argentine author of the same name) and he insists that their meeting again is no accident. Jane winds up falling in love with Borges and the couple embark on a trip to Japan. It is here that things get strange. Sometime later, Jane wakes up in Costa Rica. Borges insists that her memories of Japan are but a dream. He also tells her they must return to the United States because Jane’s parents have died. As Jane visits the cemetery where her parents are buried, she is surprised by a haiku-spouting Japanese man from the 1600s named Bashō. Bashō has a few things to tell Jane, phrased in such a cryptic way that none of them are particularly useful. Not long afterward, Jane is arrested for the murder of her parents. From here, things only get stranger. While readers may initially expect Jane’s adventure to encompass a few odd aspects (such as a man who shares the name of a famous writer), they may be surprised at the direction Searls’ story takes. Bashō and Borges are merely the tip of the iceberg in a tale that digs into alternate realities and even a complex prophecy. All of these explorations result in a multitude of twists, though the narrative can at times be tedious. For instance, a lengthy backstory for one character provides more information than is needed in a tale initially shrouded in mystery. But in the end, the threads all culminate in a creative take on the fragile nature of reality. Yet some details could have been left to the readers’ imaginations.
This tale delivers a surreal but bumpy journey through different times and places.Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68433-512-1
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This rip-roaring romp pivots between past and present and posits the future-altering power of love, hope, and forgiveness.
A time-toying spy romance that’s truly a thriller.
In the author’s note following the moving conclusion of her gripping, gleefully delicious debut novel, Bradley explains how she gathered historical facts about Lt. Graham Gore, a real-life Victorian naval officer and polar explorer, then “extrapolated a great deal” about him to come up with one of her main characters, a curly-haired, chain-smoking, devastatingly charming dreamboat who has been transported through time. Having also found inspiration in the sole extant daguerreotype of Gore, showing him to have been “a very attractive man,” Bradley wrote the earliest draft of the book for a cluster of friends who were similarly passionate about polar explorers. Her finished novel—taut, artfully unspooled, and vividly written—retains the kind of insouciant joy and intimacy you might expect from a book with those origins. It’s also breathtakingly sexy. The time-toggling plot focuses on the plight of a British civil servant who takes a high-paying job on a secret mission, working as a “bridge” to help time-traveling “expats” resettle in 21st-century London—and who falls hard for her charge, the aforementioned Commander Gore. Drama, intrigue, and romance ensue. And while this quasi-futuristic tale of time and tenderness never seems to take itself too seriously, it also offers a meaningful, nuanced perspective on the challenges we face, the choices we make, and the way we live and love today.
This rip-roaring romp pivots between past and present and posits the future-altering power of love, hope, and forgiveness.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781668045145
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A frighteningly good debut.
Mysterious guests overstay their welcome in this fresh take on the haunted house trope.
Eve Palmer makes the biggest mistake of her life when there’s a knock on the door from a man who says he grew up in her house. Against her better instincts she invites him and his family inside, but a 15-minute look around turns into a world of trouble when she can’t get them to leave. First the Faust family’s young daughter disappears in the basement; then a storm hits and the roads are blocked, giving them no choice but to spend the night. Soon rooms appear altered, strange odors waft through the house, and a toy chimp from Eve’s childhood seems to be sending her a warning: "Once they’re in, they never leave." Kliewer’s original and extremely scary story gathers elements inspired by authors like Shirley Jackson and classic horror films including Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He’s created a can’t-look-away imaginary world in which people and places aren’t what they appear. Readers will be as shaken as Eve, who fears she’s suffering from delusions when an apparition warns her that the Fausts—and even her partner, Charlie—aren’t who they say they are. Inserted between the book’s chapters are "documents" that lay out evidence collected by conspiracy theorists who believe what’s happening to Eve has nothing to do with delusions. This alternate storyline, written in the style of Reddit—Kliewer’s novel grew out of a novella he posted there—feels jarring at times, as we’re reluctantly pulled away from Eve’s gripping tale. The conspiracy theorists’ creepy posts aren’t quite as hypnotic, but they solidify the plot’s premise and neatly tie up Eve’s predicament. Fans of the surging horror genre will think twice about opening the door when somebody knocks.
A frighteningly good debut.Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781982198787
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Emily Bestler/Atria
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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