Jess Walter delivers his most ambitious and timely novel yet with this brilliant blend of dark comedy and genuine pathos. Rhys Kinnick is the perfect protagonist for our fractured times—a burned-out journalist hiding in the woods after punching his conspiracy-theorist son-in-law and abandoning modern life entirely. When his daughter and grandchildren disappear into a dangerous militia, this reluctant hermit must re-enter a world that's somehow gotten even more unhinged since he left.
Walter's genius lies in making Kinnick simultaneously sympathetic and infuriating. Here's a man who's given up on everything—his marriage, his career, society itself—yet when crisis strikes, he'll risk everything for family. The supporting cast is equally complex: his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his furious best friend all bring their own damage and wisdom to this unlikely rescue mission.
The novel works as both a rollicking adventure and a sharp social commentary on American divisiveness. Walter doesn't shy away from exploring how conspiracy theories and extremism tear families apart, but he handles these themes with surprising nuance and empathy. Even the militia members feel human rather than cartoonish.
The writing crackles with Walter's signature wit while maintaining genuine emotional weight. The road trip structure allows for both comedic set pieces and moments of profound insight about masculinity, failure, and redemption. This feels like Walter's "True Grit" for the social media age—a story about an unlikely hero navigating a landscape that's both absurd and genuinely dangerous.
A masterful exploration of modern American madness wrapped in an irresistible page-turner.

Jess Walter's newest well written, exciting story based in the Pacific Northwest finds a way to be topical, suspenseful, touching, and relatable. By incorporating religious conflict, political conflict, the urges to both retreat from the world and to protect family, the author crafts an involving story of family in crisis and the lengths that the protagonist goes to rescue his own.

Great book! Very entertaining, very easy and fun to read. Characters were fully formed; I felt like I was there with them and knew them all personally. Very prescient subject matter- a snapshot into the grim reality for so many, but written with compassion and an awareness that doesn’t get in the way of the story.

A very interesting and unique story. I will be recommending it to patrons. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

So Far Gone is a chaotic dive into contemporary America, where satire and reality collide in ways that are sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, and often uncomfortably close to the truth. Jess Walter is clearly making a political statement here—and he’s not pulling any punches. The result is a story that feels deliberately provocative, with characters and situations that push the boundaries to make a larger point about where we are as a society.

The adult characters in this book? Not likeable at all. Every decision they make seems worse than the last, and their behavior ranges from baffling to outright reckless. And yet, for all the dysfunction and absurdity, I still found myself compelled to keep reading. The format is especially interesting: each long chapter follows a different character’s experience of the same unraveling situation, without rehashing the same events. It creates a layered, forward-moving narrative that adds energy to an already chaotic story and helps maintain momentum, even as the plot goes off the rails.

In the end, I’m still not entirely sure what to make of this book. It’s messy, bold, and clearly meant to provoke—and it definitely succeeds on that front. While I didn’t love it, I appreciated the risk-taking and the commentary tucked into the madness. A solid 3.25 stars from me.

An excellent book about the absurdity of our times and how conspiracy theories and religious zealots can become mainstream. While there are some humorous parts, I wouldn't necessarily call this a humorous novel. It is very real and the characters are well-developed. It is easy to see how everything that happened the way it did after Rhys's grandchildren show up at his doorstep. Loved this book!

Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rhys Kinnick has gone off the grid. can this father and grandfather go back into society to save his daughter and grandchildren from a militia from her husband? This book was so good and I loved it! Would highly recommend!

This was a quick read that posed some serious questions about family and standing up for personal ideals, or against ideals of others that pose a threat. The characters were well developed and relatable.

I absolutely loved So Far Gone by the terrific Jess Walter. The story of a former reporter turned recluse, whose grandchildren show up on his doorstep needing help (and he doesn't even recognize them!) When they are kidnapped by Christian militia, he enlists the help of a former girlfriend and a bipolar former police officer. Not to mention his daughter is missing too. Jess Walter is at the height of his amazing powers!

Rhys Kinnick is a former journalist turned curmudgeonly recluse living off the grid in a decrepit cinderblock house on the remains of his family's never-had-sheep sheep farm. One day his two grandchildren appear at his front door because their mom -- Kinnick's estranged daughter -- is missing. Chaos ensues.

I started reading the ebook version and then realized Edoardo Ballerini narrates the audiobook and switched to that immediately. I have been lightly in love with him since listening to Long Island Compromise, and I knew he would be amazing reading this. Ballerini is so good at capturing unhinged manic energy and makes everything 100x funnier with his delivery -- and he had excellent, hilarious, content to work with here. I loved this book! Cultural commentary, family drama, and RACCOONS.

I loved this book. It's a well-written page turner, full of action and emotions, complicated relationships, and conflicting ideologies. It's both current and timeless, and left me feeling motivated to do my part to make the world a better place and feeling good about it.

After punching his right-wing son in law at a Thanksgiving dinner, an emotionally washed up writer in Spokane, his work made obsolete by the age, goes to the woods, Thoreau style--abjuring all worldly obligations to write a naturalist opus. When a pair of kids show up on his doorstep years later, he fails to recognize them as his grandchildren. What follows is a kind of reckoning with the rise of the far-right in the US and the failure of liberalism, complete with terrible violence-- but told in a way that is comical and at times slapstick. I really admired this book for telling this American story in such an intimate, funny way, without sacrificing gravitas, and was particularly enthralled by its last major scene, a gunfight.

This novel hooked me from the very beginning, and will be one of the top books of 2025 for me. I appreciated Kinnick and how he began as a recluse getting away from the craziness of world when Trump became president, to helping his daughter and grandkids who are caught up in a Christian Nationalist cult.

3.5 stars

For some reason, maybe the use of the term "madcap" in the summary, I was expecting this to be book with a lot of humor. There is some but this is a pretty serious tale which takes a definite dark turn at the end.

Former journalist Rhys went walkabout 7 years ago. He had job troubles, was divorced, broke up his girlfriend's marriage, and was just generally a cranky not so old man. After a particularly awful Thanksgiving with his Christian soldier son in law, Rhys chucks it all, literally in the case of his cell phone, and decamps to an old family cabin back in the woods. He stays there alone, doing projects, reading, and thinking great philosophical thoughts.

Then one day, his two grandchildren (whom he knows not at all) show up at his doorstep. Turns out their mother, his daughter, left a note with a neighbor for just in case scenarios. And then she left. Rhys is dumbstruck, having little experience and living in primitive conditions. But he decides to make an effort.

Rhys is an often touching character. He's screwed up in the past, both in what he did and did not do, and wants to be a better man. The grandchildren's father, who is now involved with a seriously deadly militant religious sect, soon is looking for his wife and kids. He sends the goons out and snatches the kids back after injuring Rhys.

Then the hunt is on. It gets a bit crazy with armed thugs, a militant Christian compound, a Canadian Woodstock pretend event, Rhys's ex-girlfriend and her retired cop ex-boyfriend -- an oddball group. There is a final violent confrontation which seems a bit jarring. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Oh my goodness! What a hilarious and insightful novel this is. Written with the main story being a reclusive grandfather summoned out of self-imposed exile to care for/rescue his grandchildren from a Christian Nationalist Militia compound and find his estranged daughter, it has so much more to offer. Discussions about fundamental religious beliefs and the Bible, about the US government and politics, about drug use and festivals, about environmental concerns and leave-no-trace, about Native Americans and their lost languages, and even about modern cell phones and the current dependency on them are sprinkled throughout.

As the novel proceeds, each of the main characters has his/her own chapter so background information is complete and motivation is clear. There are no slow parts to this story; the action and suspense keep interest high. Probably the best feature: parts of this novel are hilarious! I actually laughed out loud and reread parts just to laugh again.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the ARC to read and review.

When we meet Rhys Kinnick, he's done what has probably been a thought in many people's minds - gone off the grid to escape the craziness of the modern world. When his two young grandchildren unexpectedly show up on his doorstep, Rhys has to bargain with his failures as a father and with the world he gave up on. Full of heart, humor and well placed cynicism.

I started this one fully in. Jess Walter writes with such precision—smart, satirical, often darkly funny—and the early chapters had me hooked. Kinnick is a mess of a man, but his messiness is rendered with nuance and sharpness. The novel explores regret, aging, and the slow crawl toward accountability with a keen eye. There are moments of emotional clarity that really shine, and I found myself especially drawn to the quieter, more vulnerable threads of the story.

There’s also some brilliant social critique here, particularly in how the book depicts the absurd normalization of extremist beliefs. It walks a tightrope between being funny and terrifyingly rage-inducing about the current state of the country. The satire never veers into soapbox territory, which is a real feat.

But somewhere along the way—maybe after the second or third violent showdown with “the bad guys”—I started to feel myself slipping out of the story. The confrontations became repetitive: threats, punches, a gun, someone bleeding. And while that might be realistic in the world of the book, it also started to feel like a shift into something more conventional. More expected. More… “written by a man” in the way that flattens the emotional resonance rather than deepening it.

There was so much here I wanted to love—some scenes truly land—but by the end, I felt like the most interesting emotional threads had been overshadowed by action set-pieces that didn’t quite earn their weight. A mixed experience, ultimately, with both highlights and letdowns. Thank you Harper for the gifted book.

A cathartic read for trying times. I loved the characters in this story — so vividly drawn, their motivations rational even when unreasonable, and high drama all around. Jess Walter is an author of amazing range and this was unputdownable.

Jess Walter can be relied upon to tell a riveting tale. This one had me hooked from the beginning. The characters and the story are truly relatable.

In 2016, fed up with the world, unemployed environmental journalist Rhys retreats to the rustic home built by his grandfather in the rural Pacific Northwest. He hasn't seen his former wife, or his daughter, son-in-law, or grandchildren in years. Suddenly the grandchildren are delivered to his doorstep at his daughter's request, and he is fending off the conspiracy-ridden fellow church-and-militia members of his son-in-law trying to find his daughter. Helped by a former girlfriend and an ex-cop, he finds himself visiting a militia training ground in Idaho, while evading and evaluating the life he abandoned more than 8 years ago. Wry and witty, but also dark and a bit violent, this is a quick read with a lot to process!