A brutal tale of survival with a refreshingly kaleidoscopic perspective.
A cataclysmic event forces the island residents of Cedar Key, Florida, to cut off their only access to the wider world in Bobbitt’s novel.
Before everything changed, both lifelong residents and weekenders in Cedar Key loved the island’s lifestyle, which combined laid-back folksiness with the industriousness of the fishing and clamming industry. One day, a mysterious attack destroys a decommissioned power plant on the mainland, and islanders’ lives are transformed in a blinding flash. The first to perish from radiation poisoning are fishermen who are caught out on the ocean, closest to the blast; one of them, Thomas Buck, is saved only due to his poor seamanship. He later makes it to the mainland and rescues his son, but not without violence, as the family fights to keep their home safe from intruders: “Thomas steadied himself, gripped the shotgun firmly, and headed for the man with the axe. As he did, an avalanche of sound roared from the house.” Society deteriorates dramatically within a few days, with raiders and looters taking whatever they can grab, wielding shotguns and sidearms. Soon, the residents decide to blow up a bridge—their only lifeline to the mainland—and hunker down on Cedar Key forever. However, they, and readers, quickly discover that it will take much more than a sunken bridge to keep their home safe. Bobbitt’s novel features quite a bit of gunplay, but these moments are tempered by the detailed backstories that precede them. Character by character, the author moves through the points of view of the island’s small community, establishing pathos for everyone from the mayor to the retired veterans who were simply looking for honest work before the disaster. Bobbitt presents all these folks as if they’re one’s neighbors, which makes it easier to understand their violent acts as self-defense. Overall, this is a propulsive, character-driven post-apocalyptic ride through an otherwise well-trod genre.
A brutal tale of survival with a refreshingly kaleidoscopic perspective.Pub Date: March 1, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Aphroditois Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Great crime fiction.
An apparent suicide threatens to destroy an Irish farm town in the final volume of French’s Cal Hooper trilogy.
In the fictional western Ireland townland of Ardnakelty, “there’s a girl going after missing.” Soon young Rachel Holohan is found dead in the river. Shortly before, she had stopped at Lena Dunne’s home, and nothing had seemed amiss. The medical examiner determines she’d swallowed antifreeze, and he presumes she then fell from a bridge into the water. The medical examiner and the town agree she’d died by suicide. But there is far more to the plot: 16-year-old Trey Reddy thinks Tommy Moynihan murdered Rachel. Moynihan doles out favors and punishments to the local townsfolk, who know it’s best not to cross him. Now rumors spread that Moynihan wants land and has a secret plan to forcibly buy up parcels from the locals. A factory will be built, or a great big data center, or who knows what. If Tommy’s son, Eugene, can get elected to the local council, then compulsory purchase orders for land will follow, and the farms will disappear. Eugene, who’d been romantically involved with Rachel, is wonderfully described as “on the weedy edge of good-looking” and just fine as long as you “don’t have high expectations in the way of chins.” Lena is engaged to the American Cal Hooper, an ex-cop turned woodworker. They are “more or less raising” Trey, and these three core characters are drawn into the mystery of Rachel’s death and may have to face the looming clouds of civilizational change for Ardnakelty. Lena is chastised for “asking your wee questions all round the townland,” and Trey wants to quit school, against Cal’s advice. Finally, the story’s best line: “You can’t go killing people just because they deserve it.”
Great crime fiction.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593493465
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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