The Next

A dead woman betrayed by her younger lover takes gleeful, violent revenge."Yes, we are legion. Yes, we are a pain in the ass." Joanna DeAngelis has died young of cancer, and she has died wrong--instead of connecting one last time with her loving daughters and faithful poodle, instead of departing peacefully with her affairs in order, she has spent her last days on Earth scrolling furiously through her Twitter feed for news of her one-time lover, a Columbia professor who abandoned her in the middle of a cancer relapse for Trudi Mink, celebrity dermatologist and social media queen, a woman whose "nail color was so heavily tweeted it became the Pantone color of the year." "What the hell," Joanna exclaims, upon entering the crowded, unpleasant realm of the spirits. "I pictured something out of a Nancy Meyers movie. I follow a light through a meadow, up a slate walk to a many-windowed house with white sofas, and...all the dogs I've had to put down greet me and frisk around me." But instead she joins "the unresolved dead," those unable to stop wanting what they cannot have, doomed to haunt their old neighborhoods, to orbit rather than rise. Her new mantra: "Make Ned pay." In this debut novel, Gangi has a blast with her undead harpy character, who dive-bombs her own memorial service, trashes Dr. Trudi's penthouse, and makes Ned into a social media pariah by running him through an obscene Mick Jagger dance routine in what used to be their favorite bar, where she finds him stepping out on Dr. Trudi with a Columbia undergrad. As Ned comes to fully regret the mistake he can never undo, Joanna's daughters, one of whom was drunk and cheating herself at the moment of her mother's death, struggle to find their ways in a motherless world. Or sort of motherless, anyway. Good fun, good writing, and strong characters keep this high-wire plot aloft. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2016
Sisters Anna and Laney are caring for their dying mother, Joanna. For Laney, it is an excuse to move back home after floating aimlessly since college. For Anna, it sends her well-planned life into chaos. Joanna, although dying, is obsessed over her much younger ex, Ned; his glamorous girlfriend; and their star-studded life, playing out on social media. When she dies, her ethereal self is intent on revenge while Ned struggles with the guilt he feels over Joanna and the havoc she is causing from beyond the grave. All four characters tell the story, but it is the sisters who drive the plot as they work through their grief and the shambles it has made of their lives. Joanna's chapters don't work as well, primarily because she is so focused on revenge when it's clear that her own daughters could use a little ghostly intervention. Regardless, The Next is fast-paced and engrossing reading for anyone who has entertained revenge fantasies (so much easier when you're a ghost) and for readers of dysfunctional family fiction with some humor, like Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You (2009).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 15, 2016

Breast cancer patient and scorned woman Joanna wastes her final days obsessing over her ex, Ned, and his rich and famous new girlfriend and cyberstalking them whenever she is awake and able to access her smartphone. Thoughts of exacting revenge consume her, leaving precious little time or energy for her two grown daughters and faithful dog, who still need her. After Joanna dies, she becomes a supernatural presence to be reckoned with and will not rest until she has punished Ned to her satisfaction. There's a lot going on in this modern literary ghost story--love, death, family, revenge, Instagram--but it's never hard to follow. Debut author Gangi uses alternating chapters (and lots of pop music references) to tell the stories of Joanna, her daughters, and Ned. Joanna's chapters--brash, descriptive, lyrical, and often sexually charged renderings of what she's thinking, feeling, and doing, dead or alive--are the highlights. But Gangi's ability to create compelling stories and humanize her supporting characters will make readers empathize with them, too. VERDICT This is a title worth silencing your smartphone for. [See Prepub Alert, 4/3/16.]--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016

Dead from breast cancer, Joanna DeAngelis cannot find peace; she was bitterly hurt by former lover Ned, a younger man who deserted her for someone more upmarket. Drifting about between this world and the next as a ghost, ignoring the deep love of her daughters and her dog as she lay dying, Joanna plots revenge but must eventually come to terms with what was her life so that she can let go. Huge in-house enthusiasm for this book.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2016

Breast cancer patient and scorned woman Joanna wastes her final days obsessing over her ex, Ned, and his rich and famous new girlfriend and cyberstalking them whenever she is awake and able to access her smartphone. Thoughts of exacting revenge consume her, leaving precious little time or energy for her two grown daughters and faithful dog, who still need her. After Joanna dies, she becomes a supernatural presence to be reckoned with and will not rest until she has punished Ned to her satisfaction. There's a lot going on in this modern literary ghost story--love, death, family, revenge, Instagram--but it's never hard to follow. Debut author Gangi uses alternating chapters (and lots of pop music references) to tell the stories of Joanna, her daughters, and Ned. Joanna's chapters--brash, descriptive, lyrical, and often sexually charged renderings of what she's thinking, feeling, and doing, dead or alive--are the highlights. But Gangi's ability to create compelling stories and humanize her supporting characters will make readers empathize with them, too. VERDICT This is a title worth silencing your smartphone for. [See Prepub Alert, 4/3/16.]--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.