cover image Until the Next Time

Until the Next Time

Kevin Fox. Algonquin, $15.95 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-56512-993-1

In his debut novel, screen and television writer Fox has a fresh and fascinating take on an absorbing concoction of myth, belief, memory, identity, reincarnation, and the lasting power of love. On his 21st birthday, Sean Corrigan wakes to his dad handing him a gift: his uncle’s journal. Both the journal and the uncle are news to Sean, who soon learns why he’d never heard of uncle Michael: he fled to Ireland after killing a black civil rights worker and was then killed for working with the IRA. The journal sends Sean on a journey to Ireland that’s more than a trip to the old country to meet the family he never knew and find out what really happened. It’s about peeling away layers of memory and learning “WHO HE IS.” Accelerating chapters alternate between Sean’s present journey and his uncle’s diary and begin to flow together as more is revealed to both men. Although at times the book has the feel of an episode of Lost, it is both entertaining and provocative. Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media. (Feb.)