A studied and thoughtful religious novel.
De Laine presents a heady novel about Jesus’ possible return to Earth.
In 2035, a journalist named Ethan Tellinger ventures to a refugee camp in Jenin in the West Bank. He’s there to interview a person whom some are calling “the Forever Man.” However, Ethan comes to think of him as “Denim Guy”—a reference to the man’s choice of shirt. Whatever name one uses, the stranger is rumored to be Jesus himself, which, as Ethan puts it, “sounds crazy because it is crazy.” Nonetheless, the journalist spends time with Denim Guy to investigate the matter. The two travel the world, and wherever Denim Guy goes, from the Vatican to Florida’s Jacksonville Correctional Center, he quickly wins over those around him. Indeed, people often tell him their life stories. However, although he even convinces the pope of his legitimacy, he’s not without his detractors. He’s not exactly keen on wealthy megachurches, for instance, and those that lead them have their doubts about the stranger; after all, they’d always been led to believe that there would be more fanfare when Jesus returned. Meanwhile, Ethan has a pressing problem of his own: His son is terminally ill. If Denim Guy is truly so powerful, why doesn’t he save Ethan’s boy? Much of the novel is made up of scenes of Denim Guy speaking on faith, as when he asserts that the “rules and regulations” in the Bible aren’t a burden, “because in me, anyone can do this, but apart from me, they can do nothing.” He explains such issues carefully, allowing readers to reflect on the meaning of Scripture in the modern world. However, the action is generally kept to a minimum. Although Denim Guy faces danger, including at the hands of an unsavory warlord, he always emerges unscathed, and his identity isn’t much of a mystery. Still, other questions do effectively remain, such as the fate of Ethan’s son, and what the world will look like when Denim Guy is finished shaking things up.
A studied and thoughtful religious novel.Pub Date: June 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798869217318
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Argonaut Books
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.
What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?
In the first page and a half of her latest page-turner, bestselling Australian author Moriarty introduces a large cast of fascinating characters, all seated on a flight to Sydney that’s delayed on the tarmac. There’s the “bespectacled hipster” with his arm in a cast; a very pregnant woman; a young mom with a screaming infant and a sweaty toddler; a bride and groom, still in their wedding clothes; a surly 6-year-old forced to miss a laser-tag party; a darling elderly couple; a chatty tourist pair; several others. No one even notices the woman who will later become a household name as the “Death Lady” until she hops up from her seat and begins to deliver predictions to each of them about the age they’ll be when they die and the cause of their deaths. Age 30, assault, for the hipster. Age 7, drowning, for the baby in arms. Age 43, workplace accident, for a 42-year-old civil engineer. Self-harm, age 28, for the lovely flight attendant, who is that day celebrating her 28th birthday. Over the next 126 chapters (some just a paragraph), you will get to know all these people, and their reactions to the news of their demise, very well. Best of all, you will get to know Cherry Lockwood, the Death Lady, and the life that brought her to this day. Is it true, as she repeatedly intones on the plane, that “fate won’t be fought”? Does this novel support the idea that clairvoyance is real? Does it find a means to logically dismiss the whole thing? Or is it some complex amalgam of these possibilities? Sorry, you won’t find that out here, and in fact not until you’ve turned all 500-plus pages. The story is a brilliant, charming, and invigorating illustration of its closing quote from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (we’re not going to spill that either).
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593798607
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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