by Chuck Katz and Alison Starr ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A kaleidoscopic escapade with a resilient and uniquely addictive pair of characters.
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A stimulating spectacle of crime and interpersonal melodrama in which two very different writers’ paths cross with unexpected results.
Brooklynite co-authors Katz and Starr conjure the thrills and machinations of the writing life in a story of two characters who collaborate and commingle their talents and aspirations. The story opens in 2010—a time of war, soaring unemployment, and a crumbling housing market. Young writer and former Californian Kia Kuniya navigates Manhattan’s unforgiving job market, hunting for gainful employment, while also taking care of a pet bunny named Monsieur Floppy. With the determination of a true city slicker (“My unlimited MetroCard is the closest thing I have to a superpower”), she manages to land a job in a coffee shop, but she’s assaulted by a diminutive, gap-toothed attacker on her way to her first shift. Kia’s knight in shining armor materializes in the form of Dylan Miller, who swoops in and rescues her from being beaten up on the sidewalk. Dylan is a writer, as well, and he and Kia quickly hit it off despite the unconventional circumstances of their meeting—and the fact that he might have killed her attacker after fending him off. Dylan proves to be a marijuana-smoking egocentric whose love-hate rants about the city are as epic and unbelievable as his history as a multiple widower. Still, he and Kia share a jovial attraction, particularly after Kia returns to Dylan’s basement apartment, after recuperating, to show him the illustrated story that she wrote about the shocking ordeal. Katz and Starr show how each character recognizes the drive, creativity, and true talent in the other. Kia and Dylan soon become “partner[s] in prose” and begin penning new stories as romantic sparks fly between them. Kia eventually moves into Dylan’s subterranean abode, and their cohabitation inspires an exchange of personal histories, including Dylan’s admittance of residual psychological trauma from the events of 9/11. Over the course of the novel, both characters play off each other well, and their personalities amiably suit the narrative tone; also, both become engrossed in the many pleasures and pains of the creative writing process, which will delight readers who are also authors. Throughout the book’s second half, as Kia and Dylan’s quirky story matures, Dylan’s past cruel shenanigans and untruths are exposed, which leads to unpleasant consequences for the hopeful scribe. Katz and Starr’s collaborative prose is fast-paced throughout the novel—wonderfully character-driven and consistently clever. They also offer memorable descriptions, such as of eager baristas approaching with “double espresso enthusiasm” or of someone ranting with the “lung capacity of a scuba diver.” The authors know New York well, and they describe its percolating energy, rushing street traffic, and weathered population with gritty realness. In the novel’s conclusion, the law catches up to Dylan, leading to a confession of intent to pen a multivolume series of sequels, which should please readers who aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to this dynamic duo.
A kaleidoscopic escapade with a resilient and uniquely addictive pair of characters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 337
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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New York Times Bestseller
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
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Best Books Of 2019
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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