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How Do You Rebound From Tragedy? Begin by Welcoming the Future

In JoAnne Tompkins’s debut novel, “What Comes After,” a town reeling from unimaginable loss opens its doors to a pregnant stranger.

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By Elisabeth Egan

Welcome to Group Text, a monthly column for readers and book clubs about the novels, memoirs and short-story collections that make you want to talk, ask questions and dwell in another world for a little bit longer.

A pregnant teenager wanders out of the woods and into the lives of grieving neighbors. Will her circumstances bring them together or drive an even bigger wedge between two households with ample reason not to get along?

Like a Choose Your Own Adventure book for adults, “What Comes After” provides multiple entry points for conversation about what path you might take if you woke up from a nightmare akin to the one Tompkins’s characters have survived.

I was at my local bookstore when I ran into an acquaintance who started regaling me with stories of his open and honest relationship with his 15-year-old son. “I am super lucky,” he said, as I gagged behind my mask and slowly backed into the self-help/parenting section. “There are no secrets in our house.”

For the better part of a year, I’ve been cooped up with three teenagers who constantly remind me how little I know — not just about their areas of expertise (politics, foreign affairs, public health, education, music, the environment, real estate and parenthood, to name a few), but also about some details of their lives. I am the mother of these teenagers and we share a not-very-big house, but their doors are frequently closed, in every sense of the word. I try to provide decent snacks and respect their privacy — to an extent.

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What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins

by Good Book Fairy | Dec 12, 2021 | Fiction , Guest Fairy Review , Mystery , Year 2021

What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins – 416 pages

Book Blurb:

JoAnne Tompkins takes on what happens after the shocking death of two teenage boys tears apart a community in the Pacific Northwest, a mysterious pregnant girl emerges out of the woods and into the lives of those same boys’ families–a moving and hopeful novel about forgiveness and human connection. In misty, coastal Washington State, Isaac lives alone with his dog, grieving the recent death of his teenage son, Daniel. Next door, Lorrie, a working single mother, struggles with a heinous act committed by her own teenage son. Separated by only a silvery stretch of trees, the two parents are emotionally stranded, isolated by their great losses–until an unfamiliar sixteen-year-old girl shows up, bridges the gap, and changes everything. Evangeline’s arrival at first feels like a blessing, but she is also clearly hiding something. When Isaac, who has retreated into his Quaker faith, isn’t equipped to handle her alone, Lorrie forges her own relationship with the girl. Soon all three characters are forced to examine what really happened in their overlapping pasts, and what it all possibly means for a shared future.

My Review: 4 stars – Guest Review

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What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins is a powerful, lyrical, character driven, and complicated novel. It is amazing that this emotional and moving novel is the author’s debut. The main protagonist is Isaac, who is grieving the loss of his son, but the story is told from several points of view including Evangeline, who comes into the lives of the families of the two teenage boys, and Jonah, one of the teenage boys involved in the tragedy. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, although the book opens up with the tragedy and the reader learns early on in the novel what occurred, and who was responsible. The story slowly unfolds, not so much as a mystery, but explaining why the events happened and how the various characters react to what happened.    

The story was compelling, and although it moved along quietly and slowly, I was swept along by the beautiful narrative and character development. This story was relationship driven. The characters were wounded and flawed, and the author made me feel like I knew them intimately. I cared and empathized deeply for all of them. These characters were unforgettable. The depiction of the dog Rufus was especially heartrending. The author blends a mystery with an exploration of these complicated characters’ emotions, motivations, and actions. Every character is complex and is examined in depth. The author takes her time in developing the characters, and the events of the story are slowly and carefully revealed. Some of the frequent perspective shifting could be distracting at times.  

The novel is atmospheric, as the author beautifully describes this small Quaker town in the Pacific Northwest. There is a very interesting look at the Quaker religion through the introspection of one of the characters. The book explores how one carries on after experiencing a tragedy, how friends and strangers can help each move forward, and how hope can occur after a terrible situation. Some of the many themes include: mental health, child abuse, abandonment, bullying, anger, coping with loss, grief, compassion, growth, acceptance, and forgiveness.  

I was very engrossed in this multilayered and complex story, but it was not an easy read because of the heavy issues, which could be intense and melancholy at times. People who have certain triggers should know ahead of time that some of the scenes may be difficult to read, especially scenes involving violence, and also some of the animal scenes. I needed to take some emotional breaks from the novel. This was an incredible and beautiful debut novel by this author. I feel this book deserves more recognition than it has gotten. I can’t wait to see what this author writes next. Review by Guest Fairy Ronna W.  

Quotes I liked:

Picture each worry like a gift. Put them in order, from the mildest to the most intense. Imagine yourself picking up each one and wrapping it with care. Picture yourself placing the gift under a tree, and then walking away.”

“How lucky I was to be surrounded by those who believed that loving presence and listening hearts saved far more souls than the millions of words written by man in God’s name.”

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Book Review – What Comes After

What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins / Genre: Contemporary Fiction

After the shocking death of two teenage boys tears apart a community in the Pacific Northwest, a mysterious pregnant girl emerges out of the woods and into the lives of those same boys’ families–a moving and hopeful novel about forgiveness and human connection.

In misty, coastal Washington State, Isaac lives alone with his dog, grieving the recent death of his teenage son, Daniel. Next door, Lorrie, a working single mother, struggles with a heinous act committed by her own teenage son. Separated by only a silvery stretch of trees, the two parents are emotionally stranded, isolated by their great losses–until an unfamiliar sixteen-year-old girl shows up, bridges the gap, and changes everything.

Evangeline’s arrival at first feels like a blessing, but she is also clearly hiding something. When Isaac, who has retreated into his Quaker faith, isn’t equipped to handle her alone, Lorrie forges her own relationship with the girl. Soon all three characters are forced to examine what really happened in their overlapping pasts, and what it all possibly means for a shared future.

This is a very heavy book with regards to subject matter. It contains multiple trigger warnings such as suicide, rape, and domestic violence. I liked that the story is told from multiple viewpoints. Even with the heavy subject matter throughout, it did keep my interest from start to end.

I gave this book 4/5 stars.

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I have always been a lover of reading. I can usually be found with either a book or my e-reader on me wherever I go. I'm married to my high school sweetheart and momma to 2 beautiful girls. View all posts by beckybeckysreadingjourneycom

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Contemporary fiction

What Comes After

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, JoAnne Tompkins, on your first book!

by JoAnne Tompkins

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How do we recover from loss? This moving novel of a town struggling after the death of two boys offers hope and wisdom.

Good to know

Multiple viewpoints

Graphic violence

In misty, coastal Washington State, Isaac lives alone with his dog, grieving the recent death of his teenage son, Daniel. Next door, Lorrie, a working single mother, struggles with a heinous act committed by her own teenage son. Separated by only a silvery stretch of trees, the two parents are emotionally stranded, isolated by their great losses—until an unfamiliar pregnant sixteen-year-old girl shows up, bridges the gap, and changes everything.

Evangeline’s arrival at first feels like a blessing, but she is also clearly hiding something. When Isaac, who has retreated into his Quaker faith, isn’t equipped to handle her alone, Lorrie forges her own relationship with the girl. Soon all three characters are forced to examine what really happened in their overlapping pasts, and what it all possibly means for a shared future.

With a propulsive mystery at its core, What Comes After offers an unforgettable story of loss and anger, but also of kindness and hope, courage and forgiveness. It is a deeply moving account of strangers and friends not only helping each other forward after tragedy, but inspiring a new kind of family.

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First, the raw facts.

A week into his senior year, my son failed to come home after football practice. When he hadn’t appeared by morning, I called Daniel’s mother, Katherine. She walked off her nursing shift, drove six hours from Spokane and boarded a ferry to Port Furlong. By the time she was pulling up my drive, Gary Barton, the sheriff, was pulling out. I had contacted him when calls to friends and relations turned up nothing. Gary, a gruff, efficient man, had, in the span of a few hours, recruited and organized two dozen people to start a search.

In the days that followed, Katherine and I devoted ourselves to finding our son. Students and teachers and family friends, even strangers, joined us, scouring alleys and parks and the woods that surround our small town. Seven days in we had yet to discover a clue.

On the morning of the eighth day, Daniel’s childhood friend Jonah was found dead. In a suicide note, he confessed to Daniel’s murder. While the note provided careful directions to our son’s remains, it gave no explanation or other details. Jonah—who had been nearly a second child to us, who had appeared each day pretending to search with the others—had likely witnessed our suffering and chosen to spare us further agonies of hope.

Daniel was found then, his body slashed to pieces, dragged from brambles and partially claimed by scavengers that populate our woods—likely crows and coyotes according to the autopsy report. The weapon that executed the savagery was a 4.2?inch fixed-?­blade hunting knife, also used to gut a large buck whose tattered carcass lay nearby.

These are the facts. They reveal only that the greatest mysteries lie hidden in what we believe we already know.

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Why I love it

Ann Napolitano

Author, Dear Edward

Many books rush at plot as if it’s a wall that needs to be scaled as quickly as possible; What Comes After has plenty of plot, but none of the rush. There are moments of wisdom in its quiet scenes, such as when one character lays next to a beloved dog; and moments of kindness, too. What I loved most about What Comes After were those moments of peace, when the characters work to collect themselves in the wake of a terrible tragedy.

At the start of the novel, we find that two teenagers who lived next door to each other in a small town—Daniel and Jonah—have died in shocking ways. Daniel’s father and Jonah’s mother are left living side-by-side, locked into silence by their grief. It takes the arrival of a mysterious girl, Evangeline, for the boys’ stories to begin to be told.

This is a story about how important it is for us to truly know each other, and ourselves. Each character in the novel has a hidden, complicated truth inside them, and part of the tragedy is that these boys weren’t seen for who they were—for better and for worse—before they died. But the grief-wrecked people left behind find that there’s always time, even if it feels too late, to learn the truth. And as they throw open old creaky doors and reconsider both their neighbors and themselves, they find there is space for love.

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BookBrowse Reviews What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins

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What Comes After

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• First Published:
• Apr 13, 2021, 432 pages
• Apr 2022, 432 pages

• Literary Fiction
• Wash. Ore. Idaho
• Contemporary
• Dealing with Loss
• Philosophical
• Religious or Spiritual Themes
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JoAnne Tompkins' debut novel poses the question of how we move on from the seemingly unbearable — grief, abandonment, loneliness, despair.

After suffering unspeakable tragedies, those left behind in the rubble of heartache often must grapple with what is left. JoAnne Tompkins' novel explores how we navigate the painful aftermath of loss to hopefully discover some form of salvation on the other side. The book begins in a small coastal town in the state of Washington. Isaac Balch tells of the events leading up to the murder of his teenage son, Daniel, at the hands of a childhood chum and neighbor, Jonah, who later dies by suicide. The boys start out as companions in their youth, but the ruthless social hierarchy of middle and high school separates them over time: Daniel is the golden boy, Jonah the awkward outcast. A thin thread of nostalgia tethers them nonetheless. As with many young adult conflicts, Jonah and Daniel's ultimate falling out involves a girl, Evangeline. Daniel has sex with her because he can; Jonah falls for her because she actually acknowledges him, even in the cast of Daniel's golden shadow. When a pregnant Evangeline appears on Isaac's lawn following Daniel's death, it is anyone's guess as to who is the father. Tompkins peels back the mystery of this situation to reveal the intricate, multi-layered stories of all the characters, each with their own emotional torment: Evangeline has been abandoned by her mother; Jonah witnessed his father physically abuse his mother, a trauma compounded by his father's subsequent suicide; and Isaac, vacillating between rage and sorrow, has lost both a wife to divorce and a son to murder. Additionally, Isaac struggles with his Quaker faith and how to buttress his beliefs given the breadth of his loss. Although Tompkins' characters are believable and worthy of investment in themselves, it is her deft handling of trauma, grief and loss that truly resonates with the reader. Her keen ability to capture what it means to be vulnerable and what it feels like to be skinned by loss is laudable. At times, the plot's sequence of events seems too neatly coincidental; however, the portrayal of overriding hope for the characters' redemption and salvation makes this a forgivable flaw. The book's religious underpinnings raise the question of what might provide absolution in the face of misdeeds and missteps. Tompkins' exploration of universal tropes such as good versus evil, the value of silence versus communication and hope in the face of despair serves as a touchpoint to the qualities that make us all fallible. Readers who find themselves drawn to philosophical questions of humanity will get swept up in the author's examination of how to heal in the face of immeasurable wounds. Tompkins also focuses on the seeds of evil that may lie dormant in us, posing the question, "Doesn't evil and its violence stalk us all, forever seeking points of entry?" She also mines for antidotes to these qualities. Ultimately, What Comes After is a work that contemplates the paradoxes of living in a world plagued with evil, yet blessed with benevolence. It is the interconnectedness of the characters that allows them to forge on in a life that sometimes seems untenable. Each possesses the grit to move forward, despite being mired in trauma, with the help of others. What Comes After is a reminder that one's existence is but a thread in the fabric of all that is living and deceased. In short, life is quite painfully beautiful.

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What Comes After

In a small Washington town, the horrifying deaths of two teen boys shock everyone. Daniel’s father, Isaac, mourns his son and grapples with his anger, turning to his Quaker faith. Jonah’s mother, Lorrie, struggles with guilt. When Evangeline, a pregnant teen girl comes into their lives, she offers hope for new beginnings–and the possibility of answers to the questions that plague them.

Told in alternating voices of imperfect characters, Tompkins weaves a riveting literary  mystery . Each distinctive character battles their worst impulses that hold them back from the love they desperately want. It’s a sensitive examination of tragedy and  grief –a fantastic debut. Animal lovers will adore the dog who is expertly woven into the lives of the characters (be warned, though, about some violence toward animals in this book).

This post may include affiliate links. That means if you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Please see Disclosures for more information.

Publisher’s Description

After the shocking death of two teenage boys tears apart a community in the Pacific Northwest, a mysterious pregnant girl emerges out of the woods and into the lives of those same boys’ families–a moving and hopeful novel about forgiveness and human connection.

In misty, coastal Washington State, Isaac lives alone with his dog, grieving the recent death of his teenage son, Daniel. Next door, Lorrie, a working single mother, struggles with a heinous act committed by her own teenage son. Separated by only a silvery stretch of trees, the two parents are emotionally stranded, isolated by their great losses–until an unfamiliar sixteen-year-old girl shows up, bridges the gap, and changes everything.

Evangeline’s arrival at first feels like a blessing, but she is also clearly hiding something. When Isaac, who has retreated into his Quaker faith, isn’t equipped to handle her alone, Lorrie forges her own relationship with the girl. Soon all three characters are forced to examine what really happened in their overlapping pasts, and what it all possibly means for a shared future.

With a propulsive mystery at its core, What Comes After offers an unforgettable story of loss and anger, but also of kindness and hope, courage and forgiveness. It is a deeply moving account of strangers and friends not only helping each other forward after tragedy, but inspiring a new kind of family.

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What Comes After by JoAnne Tompkins: Book Review

What Comes After is a debut novel by JoAnne Tompkins. A seemingly smaller town in Washington state is shocked and suffering after the death of two teenage boys, which comes to light as being a murder-suicide. Shortly after, a pregnant teen girl is found by Isaac, one of the boys’ father. The girl, Evangeline, is homeless, alone, and secretive. Evangeline comes to live with Isaac, and we follow this strange duo as they unravel secrets and begin the hard work of facing the reality and complications of being real people with real histories.

It is amazing this is a debut novel. The character development is fascinating. The full picture of who  these people are is not shocking, but it is slowly revealed like layers of an onion. The flashbacks to Jonah’s sad inner struggles are poignant and mirror his thoughts on the meaning of evil. The parallel journey of Isaac’s deeper self-discovery in his Quaker faith, and Evangeline’s discovery of the truth about love and family, is an interesting pairing.

By the end, I was asking what about Daniel? We don’t hear from him. His character is what brought these people together. The point is people are complicated and nuanced and we never really know everything about someone. Daniel’s character story is really told through Peter’s. Peter’s struggle of doing bad things while still being a caring person and good friend is Daniel’s representation. Isaac’s enduring friendship with Peter, despite Peter’s actions, is like having a piece of Daniel back. The ending left so many questions. And also so much hope. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to seeing what this author does next.

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What Comes After: A Novel Kindle Edition

• Print length 429 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Riverhead Books
• Publication date April 13, 2021
• File size 2302 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From school library journal, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved..

Newly sixteen and trying to get a handle on her finances, Evangeline McKensey spread the last of her money-a twenty, three ones, and six oxycodones, which she counted as fives-on the scarred wooden table. The candle she'd lit started to gutter. She coaxed the wick with a pocket knife, her breath seized till it flared brighter. If it died, there would be nothing but darkness in the abandoned single-wide.

She stopped, snatched up a wastebasket and retched, holding back her tangle of red hair as best she could. No point in racing to the toilet. The water had been cut days ago. She swiped an arm across her mouth, smearing the foul stuff on her new denim jacket, the one that fate had left for her on a park bench last week. She'd hoped to avoid the puking. Some women did. It made the place smell horrible.

In the morning, she'd empty the wastebasket, fill it from a spigot on a neighboring horse pasture. Too rough out there now. The fall wind was churning the firs into a fury, sending high-pitched vibrations across the home's aluminum sides.

Evangeline pulled a can of chili from her duct-taped backpack. She'd slipped it from a shelf earlier in the day, but the picture of the greasy red beans and bits of ground meat now caused a rising in her throat, and she shoved it away. She could have pocketed a pregnancy test while she was at it. But why? Her boobs had made it obvious weeks ago, irritated at everything, even soft cotton bras and tees. She knew what she knew and marveled at anyone who needed a plus or minus on a plastic stick to fill them in on what their body was up to. Now, if somebody came up with a device to tell her the precise day this whole thing started, that would be worthwhile. That would answer a question that had been plaguing her.

She shoved aside the latest eviction notice ripped from the door. This one mentioned the coming appearance of the sheriff. Which figured. The pattern of her life had been set: horrors followed by small reprieves, glimmers of possibility, then wham, everything back to shit.

A few months back, she couldn't have imagined any of this. She had walked home from town on a warm July evening, the air clear and sweet, the sky glowing silver, thinking how her mom might let her enroll at the high school in the fall despite the likely presence of the devil. But when she entered the clearing and their rented trailer came into view, it radiated a stillness that stopped her breath.

She pushed the door. "Mom?" The cabinets hung open, only a jar of peanut butter and a couple cans of tuna left. A scrawled note waited on the table: I'm praying Jesus forgives you. She tore open an envelope next to the note. Two hundred dollars and her grandmother's jeweled brooch fell out. Evangeline slid to the floor, whimpering. "Please, Mama. You don't mean it." But her mother did mean it. Her mother had promised this day. Many times she had promised. And now she had done it, washed her hands of her daughter and slipped clean away.

Evangeline cried for days, praying to Jesus, afraid to leave for even a second in case her mother returned. But, as usual, the prayers didn't work, produced neither parent nor food on the shelves. She guessed her mother was using again. Years of sobriety down the drain. "My stalker boyfriend," her mom had called heroin. "A real son of a bitch."

As the weeks passed, Evangeline prayed less and less, until one day she realized she was done. She'd probably burned the Jesus bridge with the drinking and stealing and messing around with her mother's ex-boyfriend. Just as well. He'd never been that reliable. And the way she saw it, you could invite someone into your heart, but if they refused to come, you had to move on. You had to save yourself however you could.

It was early October now, winter lurking at the edges of gusting winds, in the damp gray that hung over the town. She'd survived three months alone in this dismal place. The only relief had been the two boys who'd appeared in September, a brief island of company-both tender and ugly-in the middle of all that loneliness. But within days the boys had disappeared. She'd only seen them again on the front page of the newspaper.

Dead boys. It was wrong to think of Jonah and Daniel that way. Dead. Boys. Nameless, generic. As if she'd had nothing to do with it. She pressed her hand to her belly. Would she wreck the baby too? Probably, but there was only her to save the poor thing.

"Bad break for you, baby," she whispered. "But you get what you get."

She picked up the eviction notice. A week till she'd be forcibly removed. She wadded it, tossed it in a corner, and dumped everything from her backpack onto the table: dozens of newspaper clippings, empty candy wrappers, dirty socks she'd hoped to wash in a public sink, her mother's copy of St. Augustine's Confessions, which she couldn't get into, and Dorothy Marsten's hydroxyzine, which, in her haste, she'd mistaken for hydrocodone. She forgave herself the error. Lingering was ill advised when trespassing in a stranger's home.

She rifled through the clippings. Though weeks old, their headlines still detonated painfully in her chest. Missing. Murder. Suicide. She picked up an article with a photo of a gray-haired man, studied it for the thousandth time. Isaac Balch. That was his name. But a single worn image couldn't tell her who the man was, and she set it back down.

She needed a plan and was beginning to suspect that Isaac Balch would be part of it somehow. She folded the clippings and tucked them into the pack. As for Dorothy Marsten's pills, she would return them tomorrow, slip them back during the old lady's nap the way she'd slipped them out. People could live with pain, but for all she knew, these were for the old lady's heart.

Nothing from her mother. The two hundred dollars was long gone, and she'd thrown the brooch in a slime-covered pond the night it tumbled from the envelope. She had wanted to dispose of her mother as quickly and indifferently as her mother had disposed of her. Now she hadn't a single possession to prove she'd ever mattered to anyone else.

She shoved back, considering. There might be something yet. Not from her mother, from the boy. She had lost it in a night wood, but she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to visualize. With surprising clarity she saw a tangle of thorny bramble, the shattered limb of a wind-damaged fir, and knew where she might look. With the right tool, she could cut it free. She could wrap it once more against her skin.

News of my son's death traveled even faster than that of his disappearance. It was a loss felt by our entire community and made all the more painful by its violent cause, by Jonah's suicide, by Seattle news teams that swooped in to sensationalize. Many in town speculated about girls and jealousies, drug deals and psychotic breaks, but not one fact surfaced that lent the slightest credibility to any of it.

The need for public outlets of grief was intense. Within the week, a student memorial was held in the school's overflowing gym. This was followed a few days later by a Catholic Mass filled to capacity, mourners packed even in the vestibule.

Katherine had insisted upon the Mass. Though Daniel never considered himself Catholic, I didn't object. Katherine, who had divorced me the year before, grieved as deeply as I did, likely more so for having chosen to live elsewhere, for failing to be present the last ten months of her son's life. I understood this and wished her whatever comfort she could find. Still, for my part, these events left me cold. And I am not a cold man.

At least, at one time, I was not.

DanielÕs third service, his last, was the Quaker memorial I requested. I donÕt recall how I made it to the meetinghouse that day. I must have walked as I usually did, but the first thing I remember is standing in the clerkÕs office with Peter Thibodeau, my closest friend and principal of the high school where I taught. Though not a Quaker, Peter had led me away from the gathering as soon as he saw me at the meetinghouse door.

"We need to get you out of that," he said, nodding toward the wool sweater I wore. I was drenched. Apparently it had rained my entire way there.

"No," I said, jerking back.

He studied me. With his cropped dark hair, the shoulders of a bull, and a pronounced jaw, Peter was an imposing man. I must have swayed under his gaze, because he grabbed my arm as if to right me. And then he did something he had never done. He pulled me to him, held me in a painful crush. Only for a moment before pressing back. "You going to make it? Because you don't have to. I can take you home."

"I asked for this memorial."

"Doesn't matter."

He was right. I could leave or I could stay. Nothing would return to me what I had lost.

"I'm staying."

"All right," he said. "As long as you know you stink. You know that, right?"

So like him to be blunt even here. He was the same with students and parents, presenting notice of suspensions, even expulsions, with nonjudgmental candor.

"What were you thinking, walking here without a coat?"

I stood silent, the sweater releasing the barnyard scents of wet wool and grass. And something more potent. Buried deep in its fibers was the musky adolescent-boy smell of Daniel. Three years back, when my son was fourteen, when he still wanted to emulate his father, he had often borrowed it.

"People are waiting," Peter said.

Not being Quaker, he didn't understand that communal silence was its own form of honoring a life. Friends were not waiting. They had started the memorial the second they took their seats.

When I offered no response, Peter slid off his dark suit jacket and held it up. It was too formal and somber for a Quaker meeting, especially a memorial. But I let him put it on me, let him cover the sweater I wore. I can only imagine how I must have looked: my scraggly gray hair dripping down my cheeks and neck, wearing a jacket with sleeves cropped inches above my wrists, its short, boxy body making me appear taller and gaunter than I already was.

Though ten years my junior, Peter patted my back with tender severity, as if he were my father, and in allowing him to dress me, I had made him proud or sad or both.

On entering the meeting room, I saw Katherine seated on the far side, my usual spot opposite, waiting. Though all the benches faced the empty center, Friends had saved a place for me where the angles of light might feel familiar.

But this day, nothing felt familiar. The only comfort came from my damp sweater. Pressed to my skin by Peter's jacket, it created the sensation of weighted warmth, like a newborn nuzzled against me, and I had flashes of my son as a baby, newly burst into this world, his life unbounded. As the silence was broken, as Friend after Friend rose and spoke of my son, I half expected Daniel to appear in my arms or scamper in at the end of meeting, a five-year-old fresh from First Day School. I almost laughed remembering how, as a small boy, he'd convert his urge to make noise into motion, would flop backward over my knees, open and close his mouth like a fish. More than once, I'd taken a kick to the jaw during my son's acrobatic attempts at silence.

Perhaps forty minutes into the service, I saw Daniel on one of the front benches, fourteen and proud, wearing the very sweater that clung to me now. His eyes swept the room as if searching for something. He seemed so present, so thoroughly alive, that I glanced at Katherine across the emptiness. Surely, she felt him too. We could share this, couldn't we? One final moment together. Whole.

If she was aware of my eyes on her, if she felt Daniel in the room, I saw no evidence. Her focus was half lidded and still. Her "friend" sat next to her. Thick necked and dark suited, he took one of her hands in his and stroked it with his thumb. She lifted her face to him, and then, as if remembering, she flicked a glance my way. On seeing me, she slipped her hand out of his grasp, set it alone in her lap. An act of kindness. Or maybe one of shame.

Strange how I remember nothing of what was said that day, can recall none of the tributes paid to my son. But that moment stays with me. The connection and withdrawal. Love and loss, kindness and betrayal, Daniel present yet unseen, as if all I needed to know were contained in those few small motions.

Afterward, as Friends set up the potluck, I succumbed to an urge to flee, snuck out the back door and hid among the recycle bins, waiting for the parking lot to clear so I could cross it and walk home. I heard the back door open behind me. JonahÕs mother, Lorrie, was attempting a similar escape.

I'd seen Lorrie earlier, sitting at the back of the meeting room, but my mind had refused to acknowledge her. She'd attended the Mass and the student gathering as well, but we had not spoken at either. Despite being next-door neighbors, we hadn't so much as waved since learning of our sons' deaths. I had forgiven Jonah. I had forgiven Lorrie. What more did God want of me? Why did God keep putting her before me again and again?

Now, in the damp, gray drizzle, she appeared hardly more than a child, her fierce, small frame lost in a black dress. She turned and saw me.

"Isaac!" An indictment, as if I'd planned this as a trap.

"It was good of you to come," I said, aware of the chill in my tone.

Her expression flickered with fear, but she forced her features into a semblance of calm and lowered her gaze, a submissive posture I'd seen her use when her husband, Roy, was still alive. It pained me to have her use it on me.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08FH9DW4S
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books (April 13, 2021)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 13, 2021
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 2302 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 429 pages
• #1,471 in Family Life Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #6,894 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
• #9,300 in Literary Fiction (Kindle Store)

About the author

Joanne tompkins.

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Customers find the mystery plot engrossing and tragic, with fully formed characters. They also describe the emotional tone as fierce, filled with fierce human passion. Readers praise the writing style as terrific, putting them smack dab in the story. However, some find the overall quality boring, trite, and a waste of time. Opinions are mixed on the characters, with some finding them complex yet relatable, while others say they're overly simplistic.

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Customers find the mystery plot engrossing, gripping, and well constructed. They also describe the book as an incredible debut filled with fierce human passion and tragic story of love.

" Entertaining novel . The premise involves the brutal murder suicide of two teenage boys Daniel and Jonah...." Read more

"...It was so beautifully done!The author’s story presentation was excellent , albeit a bit long...." Read more

"This was at times a very difficult book to read. But the story was so intriguing and the writing so rich, that I couldn’t put it down...." Read more

"...and difficult story with some absolutely beautiful and touching emotional moments to it, and you're left with a sense of healing from all the tragedy." Read more

Customers find the book emotional, filled with fierce human passion and Quaker Light. They also appreciate the transcendent writing and deep meaning. Readers also mention the book has a gentle message of healing and acceptance amid a story of strife.

"...It is simple and complex, dark and light, sad and joyous, despairing and redemptive, hopeless and hope-filled, peaceful and violent...." Read more

"...This debut author not only has a clear empathy for the subject matter , her writing style is simply beautiful...." Read more

"... Dark sad story . Hopeful, but not exactly a light summer read." Read more

"...I think this is a rare book that holds wide appeal and yet it felt so personal at the same time and touched me deeply." Read more

Customers find the writing style terrific, deep, and love every page.

"...It’s because of the fluid writing style that I could forgive these things.The language was simply beautiful, as well...." Read more

"...But the story was so intriguing and the writing so rich , that I couldn’t put it down...." Read more

"...One, it's so well written and engaging that you want to keep engaged with it. For another, you fear that the ending will be anticlimactic...." Read more

"...and legal professional I am always so grateful to find a narrative so well written that I can not only personally enjoy but share with others,..." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the characters in the book. Some find them complex yet relatable, while others say they're overly simplistic.

"...The character of Lorrie is lovely . Lorrie has been dealt a series of horrible blows but has such grace about her...." Read more

"... Every character was deeply flawed , but each also had redeeming qualities—the author did a remarkable job of presenting them with tenderness and..." Read more

"...Sometimes this can be distracting and make it difficult to really connect with any character , but I felt connected to each of them...." Read more

"...Each line is honed, each character true , and each relationship is tested and hard earned, as in life...." Read more

Customers find the book boring, trite, and a waste of time. They also say the novel never truly had any meaning or closure.

"...a debut effort so the plot goes on too long and there are numerous pointless episodes . The characters are the strength of the book...." Read more

"... Hopelessly miserable , even before the murders. Very contradictory behavior, especially with the neighbor who harbored the murderer...." Read more

"...I found this book to be beyond boring, trite and a waste of time . Would NOT recommend...." Read more

"...It never truly had any meaning or closure for that matter--the novel fell extremely short. I guess I was looking for something deeper." Read more

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WHAT COMES AFTER

by Steve Watkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2011

Abandoned first by her abusive mother and then by her father when he dies, 16-year-old Iris Wight is no stranger to loss. Family friends initially agree to care for her, but problems soon force Iris to leave her home in Maine to live with relatives in North Carolina. Life with her angry aunt and dangerous cousin quickly proves more than she can handle. Before Iris’ arrival, her aunt’s abusive behavior was focused on the farm animals, but as Iris begins to protest the inhumane treatment of the goats, her aunt’s cruelty shifts toward her. The violence culminates in a horrific beating that lands Iris in the hospital and her aunt and cousin in jail, leaving Iris to navigate yet another change. She must learn to wade through the foster-care system and deal with animosity at school while trying to find a way to care for her beloved goats left back at the farm. While never gratuitous, violence is pervasive; difficult scenes include one that graphically describes a goat being bludgeoned to death, which may prove to be a turn-off for some readers. Watkins displays his expertise as he creates a heroine who is broken and yet refuses to stay down. Secondary characters are equally well-developed and engaging. Beautifully written, this story is an unflinching look at the cruelty of life as well as the resilience of the human spirit. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Pub Date: April 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-7636-4250-1

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FAMILY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ANIMALS

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BOOK REVIEW

by Steve Watkins

IF HE HAD BEEN WITH ME

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013

There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.

The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.

Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.

Pub Date: April 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

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by Laura Nowlin

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SEEN & HEARD

IF ONLY I HAD TOLD HER

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.

In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me , three characters tell their sides of the story.

Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781728276229

Page Count: 416

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

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What Happens to House Velaryon by the Time of ‘Game of Thrones’?

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Editor's Note: The following contains full spoilers for Fire & Blood, the book that House of the Dragon is based on.

The Big Picture

• The Dance of the Dragons in House of the Dragon marks the decline of House Velaryon, impacting their naval supremacy.
• Other houses, including Greyjoy, Lannister, and Redwyne, build their naval power over time as a result of this.
• By the time of Game of Thrones , House Velaryon is a minor player, sworn to House Baratheon of Dragonstone.

House Velaryon is one of the key players in House of the Dragon . They are one of the wealthiest houses and have the greatest armada in Westeros. They have the legendary Corlys Velaryon ( Steve Toussaint ) as their lord, though the situation might get a bit dodgy when it comes to who might be his heir. Still, they are an illustrious Valyrian house during the era of the Dance of the Dragons. But, by the time of Game of Thrones , the Velaryons are but a shadow of what they once were. The house's name is barely spoken in the series, and some members briefly show up in the A Song of Ice and Fire books, but in subordinate positions, not nearly as influential and important as they once were. What happened to "the old, the true, and the brave?"

House of the Dragon

The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series  Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood , House of the Dragon  is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones , telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.

The Dance of the Dragons Starts the Decline of House Velaryon

The Dance of the Dragons is actually the starting point of House Velaryon's decline. For more than a century, House Velaryon held control of the Narrow Sea even in the face of foreign threats such as the Triarchy, but the civil war forces them to direct most of their efforts to the blockade on the Gullet. The upcoming Battle of the Gullet , especially, causes great damage to the Velaryon fleet , as well as sackings all over Driftmark. This is the beginning of House Velaryon's decline, although it would take some decades for it to fully be realized.

Right after Corlys dies, it's Alyn of Hull ( Abubakar Salim ), legitimized as Alyn Velaryon, who inherits Driftmark and becomes the head of House Velaryon. Alyn proves to be a great commander and manages to continue House Velaryon's supremacy in the waters, but he was never a sharp political player . With the Velaryon fleet based mostly on Driftmark and the Gullet, other houses started building their own naval power until eventually the Velaryon fleet was no longer the biggest proverbial fish in the sea.

Other Houses Rival House Velaryon When It Comes to Naval Power After the Dance

Eventually, other naval powers emerged on the other side of Westeros. House Greyjoy has always been powerful but never reliable; they attacked and led invasions into the Westerlands and the Reach. Consequently, House Lannister developed their own way of protecting themselves by building an armada based in Lannisport . For example, after the War of the Five Kings , they are the most powerful navy in Westeros. For the same reasons, but further to the south, House Redwyne also begin to build their naval forces. Located on the island of the Arbor, they have always been prone to seafaring and grew to the point of surpassing House Hightower's naval prowess.

Even so, House Velaryon still held some influence , with many Velaryons holding the position of Master of Ships in the Small Council. By the time of King Aerys II ( David Rintoul ), for example, Lord Lucerys Velaryon (no, not our Luke) plays this role in his council but is also one of the Mad King's advisors who preys on his decline for his own benefit. Robert's Rebellion also drastically shifts the power balance , with House Baratheon now becoming the major naval power in Westeros.

House Velaryon is sworn to the Prince of Dragonstone, and when Robert Baratheon ( Mark Addy ) becomes king, he appoints his brother, Stannis Baratheon ( Stephen Dillane ), as the new prince. Stannis then starts his own branch, House Baratheon of Dragonstone , to whom House Velaryon is currently sworn .

By the Time of ‘Game of Thrones,’ House Velaryon Is Only a Minor Player

In the Game of Thrones books, House Velaryon continues being sworn to Dragonstone, so they join Stannis Baratheon's forces in the War of the Five Kings. Lord Monford Velaryon is even present at the Battle of Blackwater Bay , but dies as his ship sinks. His six-year-old son, Monterys, then succeeds him as Lord of Driftmark. When Stannis calls his banners to go to the Wall, House Velaryon sends a host, and Jon Snow ( Kit Harington ) even notices Velaryon banners among the ones of House Baratheon when Stannis defeats Mace Rayder's ( Ciarán Hinds ) wildlings beyond the Wall.

In the Battle of Blackwater Bay, Lord Monford's bastard half-brother, Aurane Waters, is captured and forced to bend the knee to King Joffrey ( Jack Gleeson ). He later becomes Master of Ships and even starts working on expanding the Lannister armada in King's Landing. He even briefly antagonizes Lord Mace Tyrell ( Roger Ashton-Griffiths ). Still, when Aurane hears of Cersei Lannister's ( Lena Headey ) imprisonment by the High Sparrow ( Jonathan Pryce ) and the Faith of the Seven , he flees his post, his whereabouts currently unknown.

Season 2 of House of the Dragon is streaming on Max.

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Movie review: ‘Blink Twice’ puts suspense in full view, but no message comes into focus

In her daring directorial debut, “Blink Twice,” writer/director Zoë Kravitz doesn’t flinch once — not even when her film might be served by looking away. She maintains a steely gaze in this caustic social horror fable, laced with black comedy, which nods to Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” though Kravitz chooses to aim her artistic weapon at sexual politics, not necessarily race. Co-written with E.T. Feigenbaum, “Blink Twice” is a big, bold swing from the actress-turned-filmmaker, even if her message becomes muddled along the way. It’s clear Kravitz wants to make a statement with this film. What’s less clear is what exactly that statement might be.

“Blink Twice” opens with a dead-eyed scroll in a dingy bathroom; our protagonist, Frida (Naomi Ackie), thumbs her phone screen on the toilet catatonically, observing the lives of others on Instagram, before she and her roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat) rush to work, serving champagne and canapés at a swanky gala hosted by a disgraced tech mogul, Slater King (Channing Tatum). Yearning to feel a part of something bigger, the cater waiters slip into slinky gowns and join the party themselves, warmly welcomed into an inner circle of wealthy men as beautiful young women typically are. Jet off to Slater’s private island with his pals? Frida’s been longing for a vacation.

Kravitz observes this moneyed milieu well, and what she capably achieves in “Blink Twice” is an absurdist comedy of gendered manners once the guys (Tatum, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment, Levon Hawke and Christian Slater) and gals (Ackie, Shawkat, Adria Arjona, Liz Caribel and Trew Mullen) touch down at Slater’s secluded colonial spread located in a lush tropical forest. Outfitted in matching white bikinis and resort wear, the girls are plied with fine wine, fine food and good drugs. The setting and its accoutrements couldn’t be more richly luxurious, but Kravitz presents this world with a sickening, unsettling hyperreality.

Everything feels off in “Blink Twice,” intentionally so. The style is quite jarring, with an abrasiveness that’s almost chafing to watch. The camera angles are strange, the edit jagged, as Kravitz and editor Kathryn J. Schubert construct scenes as if they’re all montage, with seconds and even minutes dropping out. The images created by cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra are saturated, too bright, and have an almost burning lucidity and crispness; the sound design is also overly pronounced and too sharp. This postcard-perfect setting becomes almost unbearable to endure.

It’s a terrible truth to realize that you can have all of the nice things and still be having a bad time. Jess eventually realizes it, after a spree of endless nights spent binging on fun-fun-fun, the girls racing around the lawn in a champagne and psychedelics-induced stupor after their stultifying dinners with the men. Of course something’s not right. They have no phones, no one knows what day it is, and mysterious injuries keep appearing. When Jess goes missing and no one seems to remember she was even there, it’s up to Frida to claw her way out of the fog and find out what happened to her best friend.

Kravitz nails the social analysis and the dark, satirical tone, but as the film becomes a horror/suspense thriller, her directorial execution falters. There are some dynamic shots and compositions, and overt references to her inspirations, but the element of suspense and her ability to stage a horror sequence is lacking. She doesn’t shy away from the ugly truth at the center of her story, but Kravitz miscalculates the careful calibration of “conceal” vs. “reveal” that is necessary in horror filmmaking, making the mistake of showing us the monster clearly, forgetting that what the audience can’t see is far scarier than what they can.

Despite its flaws, what Kravitz demonstrates with “Blink Twice” is a directorial vision bursting with creative, audacious choices, at least cinematically (narratively, the script is riddled with ideas that are rather facile and preposterous). It’s a fine first effort, and she pulls fantastic performances out of Ackie, Arjona and especially Tatum, his quiet, seductive menace boiling over impressively.

However, Kravitz never works out exactly what she wants to say about sex, power and revenge. A deeply cynical coda at the end of the film undercuts any “empowerment” themes that might naturally emerge from this story. Successfully blending righteous rage, sardonic humor and a fist-pumping “girl power” narrative is quite a challenging task, if that’s even what she wants to do (it remains a mystery). Ultimately, there’s a certain emotion and earnestness missing from “Blink Twice” that would undergird this entire endeavor and keep it from feeling so hollow. But the unrelenting cynicism robs the film of any impactful meaning. Maybe that’s the point, but it doesn’t feel good.

WA Cares is a cost-effective, convenient safety net for long-term care

Here’s the fact none of us want to face: We will probably need long-term care at some point in our lives.

After playing four hours of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, I'm sold on this deeply ambitious return to medieval Bohemia

Preview | Henry's come to visit – but with war on his kingdom's doorstep, the stakes are higher than ever

If Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a coming-of-age story for peasant-turned-knight protagonist Henry of Skalitz, then Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is his mid-life crisis. I recently visited the Czech town of Kutná Hora – formerly known as Kuttenberg, where most of the sequel is set – to play four hours of Henry's latest adventure, and in that time he loses nearly everything he worked so hard for in the first game. But hey – falling off a cliff, losing your pals, and being showered with the contents of a castle's communal toilet bucket tends to have that effect.

If there's a silver lining, it's that Henry – often reeking, always bruised – doesn't seem too bothered by his string of misfortune. He's as cheery as ever, and developer Warhorse Studios has clearly had a lot of fun picking his story back up. There's a lot for the Czech studio to feel good about – Kingdom: Come Deliverance 2 is shaping up to be a deeply ambitious sequel, which doubles down on everything that (for better or worse) made the first game memorable. 

Bohemian like you

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 delayed to February 2025: "We aimed for the end of the year and almost made it"

Though Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 opens with a flash-forward of Henry's allies besieged in a castle, it picks up in earnest mere moments after the first game ends. Henry and his immature lord-in-waiting Sir Hans Capon, flanked by their entourage of knights and servants, are on a diplomatic mission to unite Bohemia's lords against the king's half-brother, Sigismund, who plans to invade and ransack the kingdom. 

For all of five minutes, it's a lovely trip. Bohemia's lush green forests are gorgeous, and I could've spent ages ambling through them on horseback. Birds are singing and the sun is shining, but not all is well – we're soon accosted by soldiers of the castle we're traveling to, who want to make sure we're not the bandits who have been terrorizing the area (ooh, foreshadowing!). This is my introduction to the game's remarkably in-depth persuasion systems. If you're clad in armor, covered in blood and carrying a gore-streaked sword, you'll find intimidating people easier. On the other hand, regularly bathing, wearing your finery and picking the right dialogue options will lend more gravitas to nobler dialogue choices. Not everyone is persuaded by the same things, which means you've got to think about how you'll be perceived before heading into important conversations. In this case, I lean on our official credentials, rather than trying to bully a bunch of hardened soldiers, and get through unscathed. 

I love intricacy in RPGs, and so adore having to put so much thought into each conversation. The depth also extends to how Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's equipment works. For armor to be properly effective you need to wear plating and chainmail on top of softer clothes, like cotton and leather, to absorb the impact of being hit. I don't have to wait long for that to happen – after setting up camp and completing a questionable stealth tutorial that involves Hans trying to spy on bathing women, I'm set upon by bandits. Most of Henry's pals are either killed or scattered, while I fight my way out alongside Hans. 

It's been six years since I played Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which is the excuse I try to keep in mind during a series of very sloppy swordfights. Combat is largely the same – you flick in the direction you want to hit or block, parry and riposte, and occasionally make some distance to give your stamina a chance to regenerate. It's a system that was quite contentious in the first game, and while I loved it, lots of people found it unwieldy and too challenging in its opening hours. Addressing that, Warhorse spokesperson Tobias Stolz-Zwilling says that although swords will still take practice to use well, weapons like maces and primitive firearms will offer more straightforward approaches to combat – a workaround that I think is quite clever, although my pride would never let me trade in the sword.

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Speaking of clever workarounds, Henry's escape culminates in him falling off a cliff, which hurts him seriously enough to neatly wipe away his stats from the first game. It also prompts key moments from the last game to flash before his eyes, which yes, is a little hammy, but I think that it explains Henry's backstory well enough for new players to feasibly play Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 without having played its predecessor. 

When Henry and Hans finally arrive at the castle they're battered, filthy, and missing any of the livery or documents that would have identified the pair. They've also been reported dead, which means they're turned away at the gate – but not before Hans is absolutely slathered in shit from above. While I didn't click with all of the first game's comedy – which often boiled down to "drinking funny, sex funny, lads lads lads" – the sequel does a better job at poking fun and being crude without feeling as much like it's endorsing the behavior as much. Hans is a petulant, misogynistic baby, but seeing him here – drenched in the contents of a chamber pot and throwing a tantrum – serves as brilliantly timed comic relief, and he's frequently painted as someone you're not really meant to like. 

By the time the first part of my preview ends, Hans and Henry are thrown into stocks, where they spend the entire night bickering. There are a good few options in the zinger department, but I let Henry give Hans the silent treatment, which (satisfyingly) infuriates the blue-blooded sex pest. By the time they're released, they've thoroughly fallen out and wander their separate ways. I'm told that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will tell more of a group story with Henry and his pals – but with Hans storming off and the rest of them dead or missing, it remains to be seen how that will turn out. However, these few hours do set up a story that's much bigger in scope than the first game. Though I've tried to skirt around spoilers, Henry and company's off-the-rails road trip feels like they're bumbling into Bohemia's big leagues, dealing with kingly conspiracies rather than petty lordship bickerings. The setup for this is alluring – I'm going out on a limb and saying that the "bandit" ambush wasn't a coincidence – and I'm very excited to see where that direction takes Henry. 

Down but not out

"I've been craving a first-person RPG with this much depth for years, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 looks set to scratch that itch."

Things can't have gone too wrong for Henry though, because when I pick things up with him again in the second half of the preview – set closer to the game's' halfway point – he's made it to the picturesque city of Kuttenberg with a full set of shiny armor. For this segment, we're focused on helping out scorned swordsman Menhard von Frankfurt, who Bohemia's King Wenceslaz invited to lead the city's guild of swordsmen. The current guild is unwilling to let him take over, though, and has resorted to bureaucratic bullying to try and drive our new friend from Kuttenberg. 

I'm told this quest has been chosen for the preview as it's a good example of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's side quests, which Warhorse has tried to make feel more open-ended. As Menhard bickers with his rivals on the street, Stolz-Zwilling points out that if we didn't choose to back him up, he would've been expelled from Kuttenberg – meaning we would have had to traipse in and out of the city to help the swordsman and his guildmate. Instead, they get to stay at their inn while I'm given the dirty work of sneaking into the current guild's headquarters and pinching their ceremonial sword, which must then be hung on the town hall to signify they're taking challenges, giving Menhard a chance to duel for the right to take over. The sneaking isn't too special, but I do love the way Kuttenberg is patrolled by guards through the night – if they spot you skulking around without a torch, they'll flag you down and politely ask you to light one, but continue to act shady and you'll be in real trouble with the law.

After hanging their sword on the town hall, I come back the following morning to watch as the guild awkwardly accept Menhard's challenge. Of course, Henry's work never ends – the tournament is three versus three, so he's roped into taking part on the side of Menhard and his pal. Here, I'm told that if I had been caught hanging out the sword this morning, we'd have been penalized and our opponents, though too embarrassed to outright decline the duel, would have been allowed to wear plate armor. Our fights go smoothly (at this point I've battered enough bandits to remember how Henry's arms work) and Menbhard, now reinstated, promises to teach Henry some new sword techniques if he comes back in a few days.

As my hands-on comes to an end, I realize just how badly I want to pick a direction and roam. I've been craving a first-person RPG with this much depth for years, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 looks set to scratch that itch. With that territory comes some clunkiness – there's a lot of information buried in menus, and combat is still a little awkward – but there's no denying the massively increased scope in play here. It will be interesting to see how Warhorse handles a story with greater stakes and more moving parts than its predecessor, but I've seen more than enough to pique my interest. After watching Henry get beaten, thrown in the stockades, and wearily roped into medieval guild wars, I'm looking forward to jumping back in the saddle – if only to get that poor boy a much-needed bath.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 launches on February 11, 2025 - but while you wait, here are the best RPGs you can play right now. 

Andy Brown is the Features Editor of Gamesradar+, and joined the site in June 2024. Before arriving here, Andy earned a degree in Journalism and wrote about games and music at NME, all while trying (and failing) to hide a crippling obsession with strategy games. When he’s not bossing soldiers around in Total War, Andy can usually be found cleaning up after his chaotic husky Teemo, lost in a massive RPG, or diving into the latest soulslike – and writing about it for your amusement.

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When Is It Okay to Not Finish a Book?

How to decide to put down a book—without all the angst

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

Book lovers have all inevitably found themselves slogging through arid prose that stretches on endlessly. Sometimes the culprit is a popular novel whose obnoxious characters you’re desperate to run away from; at other moments, it’s a plot so ludicrous, you can’t suspend disbelief for another page. At some point, even the most dedicated readers may look up and realize that there’s no comprehension quiz holding them hostage and no grade being given for completion. For adults who have finished school, reading is no longer an obligation. But that means the decision of whether to finish a book you’re not enjoying is entirely yours—and, for some people, extremely fraught.

So how does a conscientious person decide when to give up and when to stick it out to the end? The debate is much older than the internet, but in online reading communities such as Goodreads, or on the literary sides of Instagram or TikTok, the acronym “DNF,” for “Did Not Finish,” abounds—as do arguments about when doing so is appropriate. There are those who strongly believe that no matter how badly you want to abandon a book, you should always finish it, and plenty of others adamant that life is too short to ever read something you’re not thoroughly thrilled with.

For those of us who don’t subscribe to a one-size-fits-all approach, articulating a personal, intentional philosophy about when to walk away might be the best we can do. I worked in publishing for a decade and strive to be purposeful in my reading practice while routinely finishing several dozen new books a year and putting down countless others. I spoke with similarly committed writers, teachers, editors, and bookworms about their philosophies in the hopes of creating a guide for others to decide where their limits are—and when they should quit a book.

Tune in to your underlying reaction.

Before dropping a book, you need to figure out what’s motivating you to stop reading it. Is the writing truly bad, or is the author experimenting in a creative way that might push you as a reader?

And if you hate something enough for it to elicit a huge emotional response, it might be worth sticking with it to better understand why. Mariel VanLandingham, a high-school English teacher in New Jersey, told me via email, “I love when a student comes into class railing about an assigned reading they hated: getting them to define why they feel so strongly and getting other students to react to them is a worthwhile experience for everyone. I would rather them power through something they hate and have big feelings about it than not read at all or be apathetic.”

Still, if the prose is lacking, the plot is dragging, and you feel like falling asleep every time you pick it up, it’s probably all right to move along.

Consider stretching yourself.

Reading has been linked to increased empathy and is one of the best opportunities we have to digest experiences and opinions we may not have otherwise considered.

“Perspectives, writing styles, and voices different from our own make our worlds bigger,” Emily Kinard, a reader in Washington, D.C., told me over X. “I’m going to give the very unpopular opinion that you should finish books you don’t enjoy. I can also name books whose entire thesis/point I wholeheartedly disagree with that I have loved.”

Books can bring up challenging feelings, and a thoughtful individual will be alert for when their own biases might stand in the way of engagement with what they’re reading. It’s one thing to put down a breezy rom-com that’s boring you to tears and another to quit Matthew Desmond’s Evicted because you’re “just not that into it.” Some of the most valuable experiences lead to edification, not necessarily enjoyment.

Recognize the limits of time.

For lots of busy people, reading time is a luxury. If you’re only able to scarf down 30 pages on Sunday afternoons or squeeze in one novel on vacation, of course you want to maximally enjoy the experience. There will be moments in life when you’re more mentally equipped to push through a book anticipating that the challenging literary experience will pay off, and others when you should search for something that will really draw you in.

“If—after 50 pages—I’m not enjoying [a] book, I move on,” said the writer and book blogger Lucy Pearson , who told me over email that completing every novel on the Big Read’s top-100 list––compiled from a 2003 BBC national survey to discover Britain’s most loved novel––made her realize that “life is far too short for bad books.”

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Stop gamifying reading.

Bragging is not a 21st-century phenomenon, but social media has made it easier than ever to get attention for reading a lot , incentivizing some people to push through to the last page just for the sake of finishing. Leah Vann, a sports journalist in Texas, told me over email that she used to complete every book she started just for the satisfaction of adding it to her public Goodreads page, but that she has since abandoned the practice. “I realized: reading is not a sport, and there’s nothing to gain from reading a book I don’t enjoy,” she said. “There are too many books on my list to suffer through one!”

Tear through 200 books a year if it brings you joy, but remember that the validation of posting about a title online should not be the driving force behind your time spent reading.

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Keep going if you want to be a hater.

I spoke with several people who read to the end specifically so they can critique a work with full authority. “If you want to read regularly, you should quit books you hate right away. Unless it’s massively trendy. Then you should absolutely finish the book for bitching fodder,” Maggie Q. Thompson, the news editor at The Austin Chronicle , told me . “The slump risk is a nonissue here. The hatred will fuel you.”

The fun of panning a trendy book aside, it is true that not finishing a story weakens your ability to properly assess it—especially in public or on social media, where quick takes based on first impressions abound. You may not reach a tepid thriller’s mind-bending last-page twist, for example, or you may end up unfairly dismissing a novel whose characters need 400 pages to be fully realized. It’s fine to abandon a title, but if you do, keep the strong opinions to a minimum.

Don’t let completism stop you from reading.

For a lot of people, the act of spending time with literature is more important than finishing any one book, and not wanting to return to what you’re currently working through is the surest way to guarantee that you’ll instead reach for your phone or the remote when given the choice.

“If I notice I haven’t been reading for a while, it means I’m not reaching for this particular book, and that’s the death knell,” Jay Venables, a writer and an audio producer, told me. “My goal is to keep reading, not read everything . I try my best to see the worth in the books I choose to read, but sometimes they’re not what I’m looking for at the given moment.”

Like others I spoke with, Venables recommends putting those books back into your to-read pile and returning to them later. A story that isn’t resonating with you today might change your life a few years from now.

Lean on the library.

If the prospect of abandoning the hardcover you spent $32 on at your local bookstore is especially torturous, march right over to your local library, where it costs $0 to check out a novel (or three). Five out of five librarians at the Boston Public Library who weighed in on this subject told me they regularly do not finish what they’re reading. “There are too many books on my ever-growing ‘To Read’ list for me to justify finishing one that hasn’t sold me after ~70 pages,” Anna Cappello, a senior library assistant, told me over email.

Using the library can not only make you feel less guilty about quitting a book; it can also help you push yourself to try new genres, authors, or formats. (And don’t worry: The author still gets paid.)

For some of us, abandoning a book will always tug at our conscience, but there’s nothing wrong with walking away. Personal awareness and the ability to keep an open mind in the future go a lot further toward making you a “good reader” than trudging through every book you’ve ever been inclined to cast aside.

About the Author

Fannie Lou Hamer's legacy, 60 years after challenging Democrats on Civil Rights

A white doctor gave hamer a hysterectomy without her consent or knowledge. it was one of the moments the propelled her on the path as a civil rights activist..

Almost 60 years ago, Fannie Lou Hamer took the podium at the Democratic National Convention and made a speech that challenged the party for its failure to support Black Americans' right to vote.

In 1964, when Atlantic City hosted the DNC convention at Boardwalk Hall, Hamer gave a speech that challenged Mississippi's all-white delegation, which refused to grant her integrated delegation seats at that year's convention.

"If the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America," said Hamer, a powerful voice of the voting and Civil Rights movements in Mississippi. "Is this America? The land of the free and the home of the brave. Where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hook because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings in America."

On Thursday, exactly 60 years after Hamer's speech challenged the Democratic Party, Harris will address the DNC as the first Black woman and Asian American to be nominated for president.

Hamer's legacy has been one of the consistent themes as Democrats gather in Chicago this week to celebrate Harris and her nomination.

Honoring Hamer

On Tuesday, while Democrats gathered in Chicago to celebrate Harris and her nomination, others gathered in New Jersey to honor Hamer with a new plaque at the Kennedy Plaza in Atlantic City.

"This is the FIRST Freedom Trail Marker anywhere in the country outside of Mississippi," said the city in a post on Facebook . "And we are honored to have it right here in the Great City of Atlantic City!"

The Mississippi Freedom Trail was created in 2011, and its markers are placed in areas that "played a pivotal role in the American Civil Rights Movement," stated its website. Multiple markers can be found throughout Mississippi.

Forced sterilization set Fannie Lou Hamer on path to the Mississippi Civil Rights movement

In 1961, a white doctor gave Hamer a hysterectomy without her consent or knowledge when she underwent surgery to remove a tumor in her uterus, according to the National Women's History Museum .

"Such forced sterilization of Black women, as a way to reduce the Black population, was so widespread it was dubbed a 'Mississippi appendectomy,'" stated the museum's website.

It was one of the moments that led her down the path of the Civil Rights Movement, according to PBS.

“This Little Light of Mine”

Singing became a trademark of Hamer's activism. She would sing spirituals, specifically “This Little Light of Mine” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

The singing became a unique characteristic of her activism. After she attended meetings hosted by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC, Hamer boarded a bus with 17 neighbors to register to vote. Only she and a man were allowed to register, but they could not because they failed the literacy test.

When they headed back, police stopped the bus for being too yellow, according to PBS, and arrested the driver. Police didn't allow the rest of the passengers to get off the bus and Hamer began to sing.

Hamer's other contributions to civil rights

Hamer touched the lives of many as she traveled across the country, delivering speeches on behalf of the Civil Rights Movement.

Some other of Hamer's accomplishments are, according to the National Women's History Museum:

• 1964-  Organized Freedom Summer, bringing hundreds of college students together to help Black Americans register to vote in the segregated South.
• 1965 - Became one of the first Black women to stand in the U.S. Congress when she and two others unsuccessfully protested the Mississippi House election of 1964.
• 1968- Started a "pig bank" and gave Black farmers free pigs to breed, raise, and slaughter.
• 1971 - Helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus.