An alluring but uneven mystery in the Murakami mold.
A man searches for a missing friend in this debut novel.
Mister Yam—yes, he’s aware it’s a strange name—is a 25-year-old man from Malaysia with a corporate job in San Francisco. He isn’t as gung-ho about the business world as his friend Lorenzo de Medici, who is desperate to land a job—any job. One day, Mister Yam gets a phone call from a mysterious woman who makes fun of his name—“Are you the one they call the purple starch?”—before revealing that she knows far more than she should about his sandwich-making habits. Later, on a train, a bald stranger gives Mister Yam a wooden box that he claims he’s never been able to open. “Ciao,” says the man as he disembarks at the next stop. “And whatever you do, don’t get lost.” Not long after, Mister Yam learns that Lorenzo has vanished—in fact, he’s been missing for weeks. So begins a journey to connect these puzzling threads, one that leads Mister Yam through a string of encounters with unusual people in dive bars, ranches, and hotels. Can he follow the enigmatic trail of clues in order to discover what happened to his friend? Or is he simply being led on a wild goose chase into the madness of the American dream? Tan’s cerebral novel is reminiscent of Haruki Murakami both in its structure and its dreamlike prose, which is always surprising though sometimes difficult to follow in Mister Yam’s narration: “Perceptiveness was not an adjective I’d ever use to describe myself, but it was clear that something was off. Like cucumber on a steak, the mismatch was obvious. But if strangeness was the cucumber, then the silence was its sauce, which descended upon me as I sat in the deserted space.” The tale’s tone is charmingly offbeat, keeping readers invested despite how slowly the author dispenses information about the narrator and his quest. Even so, the audience will eventually become frustrated with the lack of direction. The story dawdles along to a twist ending that is neither satisfying nor even terribly original, and readers will be left feeling as though they are the ones who have been led on a wild goose chase.
An alluring but uneven mystery in the Murakami mold.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2021
ISBN: 979-8450939674
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.
A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!
Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316567855
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 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.
