An action-packed, if sometimes over-the-top, story about a young gay man’s desire to join a community that accepts him.
A debut coming-of-age novel about the lengths to which people will go in order to discover their true selves.
Parks’ novel chronicles the story of narrator Henry Dodge, a preteen living in suburban Southern California. The book begins in 1985 with him living at his parents’ home, constantly afraid of his sweet mother, athletic brother, and abusive, alcoholic father discovering his biggest secret—he’s gay. Henry spends much of his free time alone, drawing nude male figures, skimming through Playgirl, and obsessing about his all-consuming crush on his new, older neighbor, Danny Woodson. He regularly grapples with his secret and his constant feeling of being an outsider. He finally awakens to his sexuality at age 16 when he begins a physical relationship with an older male colleague at Lavar’s BBQ restaurant, which inspires a series of events that ultimately leads him to come out at school—and also to his parents. Afraid of the backlash, Henry runs away to Los Angeles, eager to find Danny Woodson. On the way, he decides to shed his identity as Henry Dodge and become a new person: Billy Collins. What “Billy” finds when he arrives in Los Angeles, however, isn’t the stuff of fairy tales; he quickly gets mixed up with a rough crowd of drug dealers, pimps, and porn producers. He must then navigate through the drama of his new life. Parks’ story is an often touching tale of a young man’s self-discovery. It’s long and rambling at times and packed with gratuitous sex and violence. However, the author’s prose is also full of funny quips and puns: “Sooner than I knew it, the summer had flown by, the greenhouse was erected, and so was I on a nightly basis.” Henry, as the narrator of the story, is also likable and tender, which makes it easy for readers to root for him.
An action-packed, if sometimes over-the-top, story about a young gay man’s desire to join a community that accepts him.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Page Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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