A novel unsure of where it wants to go.
A teenage boy upends the lives of his mother and sister after making an impulsive decision.
The latest novel to be translated into English from Mauritian French author Appanah begins with a poem of sorts, credited to “Detainee 16587”: “I’m deep inside a place I don’t want to give a name to,” it begins. “If I speak the real names of the things that are here / Beauty tenderness and imagination fly out of the window.” The reader learns in short order that the detainee in question is Wolf, a 17-year-old boy who has been arrested after taking his mother Phoenix's car and driving without a license to visit his sister, Paloma, a librarian whom he hasn’t seen in years. Wolf ends up crashing the car just before reaching his sister’s commune and is taken to a detention center by police. Later, we learn more about Wolf, who “suffers from anxiety attacks, and can go for days without speaking” and compulsively runs, “to the point of exhaustion, to the point of nausea, until his legs give way, until his thoughts (that are too many, misshapen and contradictory) retreat into the depths of his brain.” The novel goes back into the past, where Appanah tells the story of Phoenix’s traumatic childhood, her father, and the doctor who delivered Wolf. It then returns to the present, where Wolf languishes in the detention center, where he’s living in fear: “He is afraid of having to stay here for long. He is afraid of being forgotten, as he is so silent and invisible. He is afraid that this place will swallow him whole and never spit him out again.” Wolf is a fascinating character, as is Phoenix to a lesser extent, but Appanah doesn’t spend quite enough time with either—the sections on Wolf’s grandfather and doctor don’t go anywhere, or at least any place that opens up the novel. Her writing and Strachan’s translation are fine, although she’s too given to tangents that turn out to be blind alleys. It’s a valiant attempt that just misses its mark.
A novel unsure of where it wants to go.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781644452257
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Graywolf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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