Fine writing but not a single likable character in this bizarre conservation story.
Fired from an ad agency—and with murder on his mind—a man gets pulled into an arms dealer’s scheme to save Africa’s wildlife in a tale of quid pro quo.
In this debut novel, Chicago ad executive Harry Bones purges much of his agency’s staff, including art director and South African emigrant Roger Storm, whom he has long loathed, particularly for his unhip wardrobe. After the dismissal, Harry asks 56-year-old Roger what his plans are and is told, “I’m going to think of a way to kill you, Harry.” But first Roger goes to Paris. Sad and drinking too much, he laments his depressing childhood and current situation. After talking to his hotel’s concierge about a malfunctioning television remote (“Have you been watching pornography, Monsieur Storm? We’ve found that semen is the worst thing for remote controllers. It clogs the buttons”), Roger heads to a restaurant, where he is shocked to see his childhood friend Freddy Blank, who supposedly died years earlier. Freddy’s faked suicide helped him in his career as an arms dealer, working with his lover Jamie Bowes and “sexy assassin” Conchita Palomino, daughter of a Mossad agent and a Colombian revolutionary. The trio’s company, PaloMar Industries, made a fortune selling weapons, and some of the money now finances saving Africa’s endangered wildlife “from land encroachment, poachers, and trophy hunters” by whatever means necessary. Harries, a retired leader at a global ad company, shows an obvious passion and knowledge of Africa in this well-written series opener. Unfortunately, the methods used to kill big game hunters are disturbing; case in point, death by sexual violation by hippo. The book has humor, but it also has a deeply cruel streak and an unsympathetic cast. Character comments display a disdain for minorities, the overweight, and women—unless they are attractive. In what can be considered either clever or pretentious, lengthy chapter titles begin with “In Which,” similar to those in the classic Don Quixote.
Fine writing but not a single likable character in this bizarre conservation story.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-950628-04-9
Page Count: 315
Publisher: Rhino Books
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2020
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
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.
A frustrated advice columnist takes matters into her own hands.
Before dropping out of MIT during the second semester of her sophomore year, Debbie Mullen had designs on becoming the next Bill Gates. Now, almost 30 years later, the stay-at-home wife and mother of two uses her considerable genius to keep the Mullens’ Hingham, Massachusetts, household functioning “like a well-oiled machine.” In her spare time, Debbie also gardens and shares “the fruits of [her] wisdom” with neighbors via the weekly advice column she writes for Hingham Household, a local “family-oriented” newspaper. Though Debbie is proud of her husband and teen daughters’ accomplishments, her own life sometimes feels a bit empty. As such, she’s both honored and excited when Home Gardening magazine selects her backyard to feature in their next issue. Then, at the last minute, the publication decides to go in a different direction and instead spotlights the roses of her arch rival. Later that day, the editor-in-chief of Hingham Household axes her column because she’d counseled a reader to get a divorce. That evening, Debbie learns that her hard-working husband’s miserly boss refused his promotion request, her brilliant older daughter’s sketchy boyfriend broke her heart, and her athletically gifted younger daughter’s chauvinistic coach cut her from the soccer team for being “chubby.” Enough is enough. Debbie has always given great advice—everybody says so. If certain individuals don’t know what’s best for themselves, maybe it’s her obligation to help them see the light. Increasingly unhinged entries from a “Dear Debbie” drafts folder pepper the briskly paced, meticulously crafted tale, which unfolds courtesy of a pinwheeling first-person narrative. Some of the plot’s myriad twists are more impressive than others, but plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages.
Gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249624
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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