Review by Booklist Review
When Rhys Kinnick's grandchildren appear on his doorstep, he doesn't even recognize them. Seven years ago, after a politically charged argument with his daughter Bethany's husband, Shane, during which Kinnick regrettably sucker-punched "Shithead Shane," Kinnick fled to family land in off-grid Washington state, throwing his phone out the window on the way, and never looked back. Now it appears Bethany has made her own flight and somewhat shockingly directed the children to her estranged father. Shane, meanwhile, is caught up in the militia wing of a radical church. Walter (The Angel of Rome, 2022) fills out the story with flashbacks to Kinnick's career in journalism before the industry (and his marriage) fell apart, and to Bethany's youthful efforts not to disappoint her dad, who ultimately disappointed her. Hapless Kinnick struggles to get his bearings, constantly thinking aloud and being told he smells bad, but he knows when to person up. Walter's trademark mix of clever dialogue, diverting tangents, heartrending emotional stakes, and real-feeling characters caught in amped-up human situations will please a broad range of readers.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Readers will be excited to see Walter's first novel since the best-selling and award-winning The Cold Millions (2020), especially as it tackles our current political moment.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Walter (The Cold Millions) serves up a rollicking and heartrending adventure about a broken man determined to set things right in an increasingly divided America. Rhys Kinnick, a retired environmental reporter, has been estranged from his family for several years after punching his Christian nationalist son-in-law, Shane, during a heated exchange over the latter's anti-government conspiracy theories. When two young children show up at Rhys's isolated cabin in Washington State, he doesn't immediately recognize them as his grandchildren, Leah and Asher, now 13 and 9. Bethany, their mother, has disappeared, leaving behind a note for her neighbor to take the kids to Rhys. Shane, who's off looking for Bethany, has dispatched two members of the Army of the Lord, a militia affiliated with the family's new church, to retrieve Leah and Asher. After Shane's goons track down Rhys, they announce they're taking the kids to the Rampart, the church's armed compound on the Idaho panhandle, and Rhys's failed attempt to stop them leaves him with a broken cheekbone. Rhys then sets out to rescue his grandkids, with the help of a retired police detective turned private investigator, whose manic bipolar episode fuels his devotion to Rhys's cause and adds to its danger. Walter offers an honest and even touching look at the two retirees' need for purpose while finding deadpan humor in their failings. The propulsive plot also sees Bethany coming to terms with her own choices, and the reader comes to care deeply about all the primary characters--even Shane, who turns out to be more of a misguided seeker than a villain. This captivates. Agent: Warren J. Frazier, John Hawkins & Assoc. (June)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Like Station Eleven and The Handmaid's Tale, this novel by Walter (The Angels of Rome and Other Stories) feels both prescient and timely yet with a backward glance. The 2016 elections in the United States ignite a fight between Rhys Kinnick and his daughter's new husband, leading Rhys to move off the grid. Seven years later, his grandchildren show up on his front porch, and he has to learn, if not how to parent them, then at least how to reenter the world to save them from their dangerously fundamentalist father. Rhys learns to lean on the people and practices he left behind (including an ex-girlfriend and a journalism career) to find his daughter and salvage a life for her children. Gritty survivalist stories, from bunkers to bar rooms, converge in this propulsive novel that glances backward to 2016 while signaling what dangers come to fruition when people relinquish human bonds in favor of ideological fervor. VERDICT This work is a tremendous achievement: more literary and ambitious than Walter's previous popular books, with an urgency that may make it one of the strongest realist but dystopian novels of the present era.--Emily Bowles
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A hermit comes out of the woods to save his family--and see if life in the world is worth living again. The wild energy of Walter's latest book is encapsulated in an exchange between former journalist Rhys Kinnick and a manic ex-cop name Chuck he's connected with when his grandchildren are kidnapped out of his care: "Dude! Let's do this!" Young Leah and Asher were delivered to Rhys' ramshackle pile in the woods north of Spokane by a neighbor per the instructions of their mother, who needed a little break from her life. The thing is, Rhys hasn't seen the kids in so long he doesn't recognize them at first. He's been living off the grid and out of touch ever since he punched his son-in-law in the face at Thanksgiving dinner in 2016. When the kids are almost immediately nabbed by goons connected with said son-in-law, Rhys gets help from a variety of partners: Lucy, an old flame from the newspaper; Chuck, who's her old flame; and a Native American friend named Brian. Two out of three of these are packing heat, and several showdowns ensue, plus a high-spirited visit to a drug-positive electronica festival in the Canadian woods. The characters are created with loving care, the plot with reckless glee; Walter seems as fed up with various aspects of modern life as the smartphone-hating Rhys, and gives his version of the modern Northwest a distinctly Old West vibrational overlay. Things get really serious toward the end in a way we might not be totally prepared for, and doesn't feel absolutely necessary, but perhaps it's Walters' way of saying the danger is real. Walter is a beacon of wit, decency, and style. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
