David Rapp

United States

Indie Editor at Kirkus Reviews

@KirkusReviews. All opinions my own. He/him.

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Articles

Best of the Century (So Far): Kirkus Indie Picks

4 weeks ago | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

The first quarter of the 21st century has seen an explosion of self-published books, including some that went on to become bestsellers. E.L. James’ erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), for instance, was a notable smash, and the SF thriller The Martian (2014), which first appeared on author Andy Weir’s website, went on to be adapted as an Oscar-nominated 2015 film.
‘Long Bright River’: Peacock’s Slow-Moving Mystery

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Liz Moore’s 2020 novel, Long Bright River, features a police-officer protagonist, a serial killer, and a missing woman—but to call it a mystery, or even a thriller, feels like a stretch. It’s mainly the story of the cop’s relationship with her deeply dysfunctional family, which has been torn apart by drug abuse for two generations, and for long sections there’s scarcely a mention of the killer stalking the streets of Philadelphia, murdering women with impunity.
3 Picture Books for Kids Who Love To Make Music

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Many amateur and professional musicians tell stories of first performing songs when they were children, whether taking piano lessons, attending choir practice, playing “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” on a kid-sized guitar, or singing along with pop hits on the radio. It’s no wonder, then, that so many books for very young readers are about playing music live—with all the noise, anxiety, and wonder that experience entails.
‘Queen of the Ring’: A Champion Adaptation

1 month ago | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Jeff Leen’s excellent 2007 biography, The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend, tells the story of Mildred Burke, a world champion wrestler from the 1930s to the ’50s who helped to popularize women’s professional wrestling worldwide. She faced many troubles in her life, most of them related to her her abusive, philandering husband and manager, Billy Wolfe.
‘The Monkey’ Review: Carnage With a Message

2 months ago | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Some of the best adaptations of Stephen King’s work come from his short fiction. Two novellas from King’s 1982 collection, Different Seasons, yielded the Oscar-nominated films Stand by Me (1986) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994).Night Shift, from 1978, included “Children of the Corn,” which inspired a number of fun, if corny, movies, including a wild remake two years ago.
The ‘Dog Man’ Movie: Wacky and Wise

2 months ago | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Author/illustrator Dav Pilkey is best known for his long-running, bestselling Captain Underpants children’s book series, which ran from 1997 to 2016. It told the story of two Ohio fourth-graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who sometimes create comics for their own amusement. One of their characters is Captain Underpants, and they manage to hypnotize their grumpy principal into thinking that he is the goofy superhero.
‘The Night Agent’: Mission Unaccomplished

Jan 23, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Matthew Quick’s 2019 novel, The Night Agent, is a diverting if somewhat pedestrian spy thriller with many of the tropes that genre fans expect: dangerous secrets, assassination plots, a mole in the White House, an all-too-familiar trust-no-one mentality.
3 Indie Guides To Managing Your Money Wisely

Nov 25, 2024 | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Everyone likes the idea of get-rich-quick schemes, but very few of them are successful in practice. In reality, it’s always a better idea to show prudence and patience when it comes to personal finances—whether opening a savings account, taking out a loan, investing in the stock market, or planning for retirement. But even the most cautious strategy can seem daunting when you’re insecure about money matters; after all, most people can’t afford to take big risks with their hard-earned cash.
‘Interior Chinatown’: Subverting ‘Law & Order’

Nov 18, 2024 | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

The Law & Order franchise has been part of American pop culture ever since the original series’ first episode aired in 1990. The TV police procedural has spawned several spinoffs, including, most notably, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which is still on the air after a quarter century. The shows, which take place in a wildly crime-ridden New York City, have mostly featured white police detectives and attorneys and almost no recurring characters of Asian ancestry.
‘Small Things Like These’: Quiet Film, Big Idea

Nov 7, 2024 | kirkusreviews.com | David Rapp

Claire Keegan’s Kirkus-starred 2021 novel, Small Things Like These, is, in many ways, a study in smallness, in that it focuses on a single, powerful idea. The brisk, 114-page story centers on a single character: a hardworking coal and timber merchant in the small town of New Ross, Ireland, in 1985.