Simon & Schuster | Book Chatter

Not with a Bank book cover.

Not with a Bang
By Temi Oh
S&S/Saga Press, July 14, 2026, 352pp.

The Short of It:

Doomsdayers rejoice.

The Rest of It:

The Minton family has had a rough go of it. Marcus loses his job and becomes obsessed with stockpiling resources and digging a doomsday bunker for his family. As his family watches his antics, the family slowly falls apart.

Two daughters and their mother watch in horror as a cataclysmic event turns their world upside down. A magnetic force arrives on the wedding day of the eldest daughter, throwing everyone into panic mode. Anything metal is picked up and tossed, including body piercings, surgical devices, and the like. Bodies lie strewn everywhere, and one daughter has gone missing.

With the family torn apart and scattered in different locations, the bunker Marcus built is not useful at all. Instead, it becomes a target for those who want what is inside. Marcus prepared his family for survival but failed to think twice about boasting about his supplies, ultimately putting everyone at risk.

As each family member does what they can to survive, their internal thoughts keep them moving forward through a situation where a resolution is not immediately apparent.

What was great:

Pacing
Authenticity
Briar’s point of view

Overall, this was quite readable without being dark or depressing. I wanted more of the family’s interactions before they were split apart. I think that would have lent a more personal note to the story. No matter how you imagine the world ending, the way civilization falls apart within minutes is, I fear, accurately depicted.

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Close Relationships with Strangers
By Krista Diamond
Simon & Schuster, June 2026, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Celebrity obsession and its aftermath.

The Rest of It:

Ben, a “sometimes” wildlife photographer unsatisfied with life, is forced to sling food to make ends meet. Las Vegas is a tough town. There’s so much going on, but the glitz and glam don’t make it to him the way they seem to for everyone else. He’s miserable and lacks direction. He watches other people become successful. You know the type.

Enter Ellory. She’s a beautiful burlesque dancer. She’s matter-of-fact and blunt but sees something in Ben that Ben simply cannot. Although their relationship quickly gets physical, the connection between the two grows slowly as they figure out who they want to be and how they want to live.

Creating a life with Ellory sounds good, but Ben’s obsession with an actor named Jack Whitlock becomes all-consuming when Jack’s sex scandal goes public and every paparazzo is on his trail to get that pictorial. Ben decides he could crack the story if he heads to Hollywood.

This is the part of the story where, as a reader, you begin to question all of Ben’s choices. Ben is impulsive and so caught up in the chase that it doesn’t occur to him what he’s asking of Ellory. He’s lost with a false sense of direction. That’s a deadly combination.

I found this story to be very realistic in the telling. The desire to be part of that elite circle clouds Ben’s judgment in the most real way possible. Diamond’s handling of LA culture was spot on. I grew up on the streets of Hollywood, and the grittiness can be heartbreaking, but then you turn a corner and it’s glamorous again. That’s Los Angeles. Homelessness on every corner, but celebs too. It’s impossible not to have a hope or a dream when you wake up and see the Hollywood sign every day.

I liked the imperfect nature of these characters and the glimpse of Hollywood behind the curtain. I found parts of it to be a little surreal, but that’s celebrity culture.

Highly recommend.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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