Too many storylines unnecessarily muddy this commentary on near-future America.
Existential political threats turn America into a nightmare in this ambitious tale.
Subtlety isn’t the name of the game in Parks-Ramage’s eco-thriller, in which the world is terrorized by climate disaster, totalitarian government, and the surveillance state. The novel begins with gay partners Mason and Yunho preparing for the baby shower of the child they’re having via surrogate, a party overshadowed by a rather prescient fire that consumes much of Los Angeles and comes with a poisonous pink gas bringing sometimes-fatal side effects. The show must go on, however, in this takedown of wealth inequality and consumption in the age of environmental destruction. Gucci gas masks, Apple Wallet brain implants, and MegaDust Bowls all make their way into the book’s first section, though the postmodernist tricks are not always effective. Many of the bits are clumsily introduced, explained via unsubtle exposition. The story moves from a stratified Los Angeles to a communal ranch in isolated Montana, where Yunho decamps with his surrogate, Astrid; Astrid’s partner, Claudia, who uses a wheelchair; and other close friends to build a resistance based on a simple saying: “We’ve got love for everyone.” But things go south when the U.S. government brands the anarchist community’s values antifamily, and the group faces risks from the outside world and members alike. A third section dives even further into the future, as Mason moves with a new partner, Peter Thiel (yes, really), to Mars following the dissolution of the community on the Ranch. Parks-Ramage bites off more than he can chew while failing to imbue his satire with clarity. The book spans more than 100 years and takes aim at a future many fear is on its way without providing his characters, who fight for a better world, with enough dimensionality to bring it to life.
Too many storylines unnecessarily muddy this commentary on near-future America.Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781639736140
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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