A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2022
A Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book 2022
“[A] masterful, nervy, complex and confrontational work that flays the white beasts of power, excoriates the American dream, and serves up a ferocious indictment of the Fourth Estate, all while encased inside a brilliant Gobstopper of a book that changes flavor, shape and hue the longer it sits on the tongue, staining us with its unflinching, irresistible honesty. . . . Almond injects his bitter truth serum into storytelling so propulsive, characters so alive, and language so dynamic that it’s impossible to put this sucker down.” ―Sara Lippman, Chicago Review of Books
“A breathtaking success . . . At times a race-to-the-finish mystery, this book can also rightly be categorized as a searing meditation on the multigenerational traumas endured by a family of undocumented immigrants . . . It is a dazzling magic trick that explains why the author reportedly took 30 years to complete the manuscript . . . the wait, it turns out, has been entirely worth it.” ―Zack Ruskin, San Francisco Chronicle
“[An] edgy, retroactive thrill ride . . . Wealth, power, influence, race, America’s broken criminal justice system, and a cameo by Nancy Reagan all play significant parts in this examination of buried truths, prejudices, class structure, and morality. [In All the Secrets of the World] we’re presented with the accumulation of [Almond’s] talent for intricate storytelling, his skillset as a reporter, and his lifelong compassion for all human beings, no matter their flaws or shortcomings. The result is epic.” ―Raj Tawney, Miami New Times
“The fates of two Sacramento families collide most spectacularly in All the Secrets of the World . . . Almond paints a satirically astute portrait of Reagan’s America, with California the epicenter of the president’s anti-crime campaign . . . With cleverly overlapping subplots and a memorable cast of characters, Almond’s meticulously researched novel is a triumph of storytelling powered by a central theme: the perilous disconnect between those who control or abuse systems of power and the individuals who are at the losing end of the power dynamic . . . A sensitive storyteller admired for his rich, diverse literary work and his quirky brilliance, Almond skillfully embellishes his realist drama with notions of the magical and celestial . . . Ingenious.” ―Shahina Piyarali, Shelf Awareness
“I devoured All the Secrets of the World in a couple of big, greedy bites. It is at once a media critique, a coming-of-age story, a meticulously plotted police procedural, an exploration of racial paranoia, and a haunting account of lust and longing on the fringes of what is allowable. Most of all, it’s a deeply compassionate book that shows how policies can trickle down into the lives of individuals and strip them of their humanity.” ―Anthony Doerr, author of Cloud Cuckoo Land and All the Light We Cannot See
“Steve Almond is a fierce talent―a writer who possesses both a deep heart and a sharp edge. His work shimmers with intelligence and simmers with eroticism. He’s got the goods.” ―Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls
“With one unexpected twist after another, Steve Almond pulls you into this wild and engrossing novel about family, scorpions, and the rules of attraction. In All the Secrets of the World he shrewdly dissects the social and emotional landscape of 1980s California and creates a true page-turner.” ―Héctor Tobar, author of The Last Great Road Bum
“Almond, a master of the short form, has now set himself loose on a vast canvas, giving us a rollicking, wide-ranging, unpredictable novel―part crime story, part coming-of-age, part satire, part deadly serious. This book is sharp, fast-moving, juicy . . . a wild ride and a great deal of fun.” ―Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer finalist for The Great Believers
QUICK VIEW
