Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson -256 pages
ARC from Ecco and Netgally for an honest review
Book Blurb:
Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge—aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner—is determined to make it through yet another sad summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother’s unhappy house and who is as lonely and awkward as Frankie is. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.
The posters begin appearing everywhere, and people wonder who is behind them. Satanists, kidnappers—the rumors won’t stop, and soon the mystery has dangerous repercussions that spread far beyond the town. The art that brought Frankie and Zeke together now threatens to tear them apart.
Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge—famous author, mom to a wonderful daughter, wife to a loving husband—gets a call that threatens to upend everything: a journalist named Mazzy Brower is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Might Frances know something about that? And will what she knows destroy the life she’s so carefully built?
My Review: 4 stars
Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson is another quirky and absorbing novel by this author of the ever popular, Nothing to See Here. That book had me believing in exploding children and found it refreshingly believable, so you know you’re in the hands of a phenomenal author.
In this book, Wilson explores the power of misunderstood art and the resounding effect it can make on a community. When Frankie meets Zeke, who is visiting from out of town, she finds a kindred spirit that stems from being lonely and awkward. Together, they make a mission to use their individual skills, Frankie’s writing and Zeke’s art, to create something just for themselves. Something magical and mystifying. They fall in love with the beauty of their concept, even sealed with a blood pact that drips on the page. Soon the art and quote (The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.) is anonymously shared throughout the town.
This grew bigger than they could ever have imagined as people conjectured that the poster, photocopied many times, came from a cult or aliens or radical organizations. Soon the image was put on t-shirts, made the nightly news and became its own beast that the kids had no control over. Ultimately, this novel showed how an innocuous poster could cause riots, police raids and cause many to cite psychological terrorism. The whole story was prompted because a journalist was investigating the “Coalfield Panic” and thinks she’s figured out who is responsible for the original poster. So there’s still a mystery element whispered through the pages.
Honestly, I just love that Wilson creates such unique storylines and has the reader fall easily into his books. Don’t miss the author’s note where he shares that this story could be semi- autobiographical. Well done!
Quotes I liked:
That’s what was official, that we were invisible to everyone in the entire world except each other.”
“I think that, maybe, everywhere we are in the edge.”
“I thought that the saddest thing that could happen was that something inside your head worked so hard to make it into the world and then nothing happened.”
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