Talk about a compelling, semi-creepy, twisty sci-fi novel! Evelyn Caldwell is a whip-smart scientist who has just won a coveted award. Why? She figured out how to take an adult clone and map their personality into their neurological framework. Yet, Evelyn doesn't have anyone to celebrate with. Why? It seems her ex-husband Nathan has stolen her research to make himself an Evelyn clone named Martine, cheated on Evelyn with the clone, and jilted Evelyn for the clone.

And that's just in the first twenty pages! I loved the female characters in this story, especially Evelyn. She's emotionally damaged (her upbringing is dysfunctional to say the least), strong-willed, ruthlessly driven, and unapologetically puts her ambition above all else. She knows what she wants, and she's going to get it. She also knows what she doesn't want: motherhood. Nathan is not thrilled about that (or her elevated status in her field of study), so he creates Martine, who's the docile, malleable, impregnable wife (clone) he's looking for. Yet, when he's found dead, Martine and Evelyn are forced to team up and, in doing so, take the reader on a fast-paced, twisty ride.

I certainly was kept guessing throughout this book and especially enjoyed the unique relationship between Martine and Evelyn. The trajectory of their relationship--from enemies to frenemies to co-conspirators to sort-of friends was as compelling as the storyline of the novel. If you're a fan of sci-fi, mysteries, or novels with female leads who growl more than charm, this one is for you.

Fletcher returns to a village he left years before as something of a hero? It’s never completely made clear what he was to the people of the village but it’s implied he was something of a cult leader or, at best, a leader who they all looked up to and lived in accordance with the ideas he espoused. And, apparently, it led to their stagnation and his downfall. He ends up at his old cottage, as an old, dirty, man, a “ragamuffin” someone says. The older people who were part of his original following seem to be anxious to speak to him and possibly censure him for the harm following him and his teachings did to them. Meanwhile a young woman is also interested in speaking to him and the older faction worry he will have the younger group as enamored and supportive of him as the old group was. While walking to visit her group, he meets a man he knew years ago. Fletcher apparently bullied this man when he was a boy. The now-man’s intentions aren’t clear. You think he’s going to hurt Fletcher in retaliation for the false prophecy and bullying he had once been subjected to by him, but then he ends up just leaving him at a bus station saying a bus will eventually come (although it doesn’t seem likely). The “situation” reflects the past work of Fletcher. The man has encouraged him that he’s going to get the bus and be able to go and speak (influence) with the younger group and Fletcher believes him (but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen).

So, like the people who Fletcher led in the past, Fletcher himself is sitting waiting for something that’s not going to come (and will possibly be hurt while sitting there like a lame duck). It’s ominous and open-ended. Based on what Fletcher himself has said in his interactions with the people of this village, he knows the results of his reign over the village’s people resulted in bad, but he still seems to be as arrogantly unrepentant as ever. I enjoyed this story and couldn’t help but look at it in political terms, considering our country’s political situation and social divisiveness and the leaders heading the various groups. I also read it through the lens of commupence and how it’s heavily implied that Fletcher will somehow pay for his past sins. Karma seems to be a force that will make itself known.

Journalist Dawnie Walton's debut, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is THE book of the moment. An unabashedly provocative story, it speaks to the social/political issues of the present by telling the tale of a fictional music duo’s rise to fame and their planned-for revival concert in 2016. The story is told through distinct-yet-perfect framing: This book is an oral history, which gets shaped into a fictional book being written about the revival (and the history that came before it) by S. Sunny Shelton, the daughter of the duo’s original drummer, Jimmy. Sunny’s interviews with all the main characters make up the majority of the book, as well as her own editorial notes and recollections about events. It’s similar to Taylor Jenkin Reid’s rock/oral history novel, Daisy Jones and the Six. Yet, while Daisy mined the history of the band to reveal the answer to a mystery and deconstruct a quasi-romance, Opal & Nev uses that history to solve a mystery, while also commenting on racism, politics, sexism, feminism, and fame.

Opal, a Black singer from Detroit, recorded two albums for Rivington Records with Nev, a British singer/songwriter. Their collaboration didn’t generate much fanfare, until they ended up sharing a festival line-up with the Bond Brothers, their label’s most-famous yet troublesome act. The Bond Brothers, a country band from Florida, irks Opal and the more sensible producers at the label due to their excessive drinking and drugging, dallying with groupies, and, especially their flagrant use of the Confederate flag--on their vests and as a prop for their stage show. They bring a huge Confederate flag to the showcase (as well as a rowdy, drunk motorcycle gang that sexually harasses the women in the other bands), which eventually causes all hell to break loose. The gang members beat up and eventually kill Sunny’s Dad (and Opal’s lover), Jimmy. During the riot, an image is taken and gets a showcase in The New York Times. It’s Nev, carrying Opal on his back out of the melee. The notoriety from the photo revives the duo’s fledgling career, and they enjoy a short but intense time as rock stars who break all the rules by singing about the denigrated and downtrodden members of society fighting against “the man.” One extremely provocative song in particular achieves infamous notoriety.

I don’t want to spoil too many plot points, but this riot is the event that propels the varied storylines, particularly how the ultra-compelling character of Opal (it’s no fluke that she, not Nev, is featured on the book’s cover) navigates the racial, sexist, familial, and personal challenges in her path. She’s an amazing character. A punk-rock goddess who is both empowering in her fashion and in using her voice to speak out against society’s ills (as a singer and an activist), but, at the same time, ignorant of nefarious forces that ultimately affected her career. Sunny, as her fan/antagonist/fellow Black woman, has an engrossing relationship with Opal--it’s the beating heart beneath the explosive social issues this novel explores.

Walton does a wonderful job making each character’s voice distinct (LOVE Virgil!), while also honestly and openly commenting on how the divisive political atmosphere of our country has reignited talk and exploration of the racist and sexist challenges plaguing our electorate. Through the fiction, she openly and honestly addresses a wide range of hot-button issues in a completely believable and thoroughly engrossing way.

Whether you’re a music fan, a lover of contemporary fiction, an activist, or a person interested in the politicized issues of today, you’ll love this searing, engrossing novel.