A gripping and timely environmental tale with a combustible mix of deadly elements.
A wealthy businessman assembles a specialized team to ruthlessly take on an industry believed to endanger the health of the planet.
In Clark’s climate change thriller, Wolfgang Dreiser invites other members of the mega-rich to secretly fund drastic, violent action against the fossil fuel industry to save “the world in the time we have left.” The affluent visitors to Dreiser’s Swiss mansion only need to provide an “eye-watering” amount of financing. The execution of the plan, code-named Operation Phoenix, is “tasked to military strategists and operatives.” Australia, “soon to be the biggest coal exporter,” is a key target. Divorced Londoner Alex Burns, a former member of Her Majesty’s Special Air Service who still passes “the ‘tall, dark and handsome’ test,” gets recruited to lead the sabotage operations of Australia’s production and supply chain of coal. Emma Johnson, another devotee to the cause, whose lover David Mallon died from injuries inflicted in an anti-coal protest, battles the industry with David’s father, Sean, a Northern Ireland transplant. They work to bomb passengerless train cars coming from the mines. But based on the bombing techniques used, someone realizes whose handiwork it is, putting the mission and Sean—who has become a national folk hero, nicknamed “Ned Coaly” after the 1800s bushranger Ned Kelly—in danger unless Alex can intervene. In this engrossing novel, Clark, an Australian environmentalist and climate consultant for over 30 years, preaches to the choir, if the singers are climate change zealots. Long stretches of text decry the perils of climate change. Descriptions of the Australian landscape and surrounding waters are picture-perfect. The tension ebbs and flows throughout, and the characters, such as an aging former Irish Republican Army bomber now living Down Under, are original. But multimillionaire businessmen secretly and successfully financing a potentially deadly pro-climate escapade suggests a fantasy more than a thriller.
A gripping and timely environmental tale with a combustible mix of deadly elements.Pub Date: March 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-922697-08-0
Page Count: 396
Publisher: Aurora House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
