A vividly morose prophecy of an ugly, reactionary surveillance state leavened slightly by its finale.
Day’s debut novel imagines the United States in 2099 as a dystopian, authoritarian-corporate police state, where a disgruntled, radicalized bartender explores how the dictatorship came into being.
In the near future, the nation, embroiled in constant wars with other countries, is deep into its “New Era” of totalitarianism featuring corrupt presidents, unregulated corporations, and environmental fallout from climate change. Although the state pays lip service to “freedom,” the populace is sent to compulsory Public Bible School and Patriotism Camp and is routinely terrorized by widespread surveillance and threats of torture and execution by the dreaded Internal Security Service. Propaganda, meanwhile, claims that unseen saboteurs and terrorists lurk everywhere. In Loyalty, Kansas—one of several polluted, industrial-nightmare towns erected on the Great Plains—Joe Carlton, who once harbored acting ambitions, subsists unhappily as a bartender, serving factory drones after their 12-hour shifts. An atypical patron arrives: an old man who was politically active in the distant past, as American society shifted toward scoundrels and capitalists. His talk of freedom of expression and travel is new to Joe; such things have been erased from historical records (as have books such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird), and the barkeep’s first impulse is betrayal. But seeds of rebellion have been planted, leading Joe into forbidden sectors of town and asking how this dystopia came to be. The author's dire extrapolation of current headlines doesn’t specifically name Republicans or Democrats, but when Day characterizes a long-ago president-villain as a “dolt” and “Intellectually incurious, corrupt, self-centered, [and] lawless,” it’s an easy reference to figure out. The book’s setting and regime often feel like the worst aspects of Cold War Albania or North Korea superimposed upon a society based on corporate greed, and an Orwellian chill wind of hopeless oppression blows through most of the plot. Day does offer a solution in the end—with a war of ideas rather than brute force—so sympatico readers may be assured that present difficult times shall pass; others may be less reassured.
A vividly morose prophecy of an ugly, reactionary surveillance state leavened slightly by its finale.Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-67-619822-0
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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