After reading Nothing To See Here, I was really excited to read Kevin Wilson's newest release. This is a coming-of-age novel about two teenagers who create an art project that shakes up the town. The book reads almost like a YA novel with Frankie and Zeke's relationship being a central focus of the book - does he like me, does he not type of thing. Kevin's writing is able to transport you, perhaps because we all know the average American house on hot summer day as a teen.

While I found the author's note really interesting, I wish it was perhaps included at the end of the novel. I felt it already let me in to the story before I was ready.

I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it, however I did not feel as captivated by this story as I did Kevin's previous novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

It’s summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, and art is seizing the city with an ironclad grip. Mysterious posters have surfaced across town, emblazoned with a haunting illustration and mystifying script: “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers,” it reads. “We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.” The residents marvel and the paranoiacs speculate, but no one knows that the posters’ origin is just a pair of teenagers with a Xerox machine and a dream.

So it goes in Kevin Wilson’s fourth novel “Now is Not the Time to Panic,” published Nov. 8. Told in alternating timelines, the book tells the story of how teenage outcast and aspiring novelist Frankie Budge meets budding artist Zeke Brown one fateful summer in 1996. When the two create the cryptic poster that sends Coalfield spiraling, it snowballs into a flurry of whispers and whiplash that alters their lives forever. Twenty years later, a reporter searches for the truth about the Coalfield Panic of 1996 in an investigation that threatens to overturn Frankie’s life once more.

Though Wilson’s prose is emphatic and resonant with narrative voice, Frankie’s ceaseless inner monologue demonstrates why the age-old writing maxim of “show, don’t tell” continues to persist as craft advice. While her pedantic explanations can be partially justified by the novel’s split temporality and retrospective reflections, they rapidly grow monotonous in places where more dynamic plot points might flourish. Wilson’s candid writing style is keen, but it isn’t enough to outstrip its unnecessarily explicative tendencies.

The novel’s dialogue attempts to display a veracious representation of teenage speech — peppered with “like,” ellipses, and overly juvenile uncertainties. While it demonstrates an admirable attempt at realism, Wilson is unable to decide between the stilted oral verisimilitudes of a transcript and traditional fictitious stylization. Instead, he settles for a murky in-between that more often distracts than rings true. Wilson, at times, writes in ways that portray Frankie and Zeke as younger than they actually are.

Wilson’s combination of precarious dialogue and static prose only serves to further flatten the novel’s one-dimensional characters. In theory, Frankie and Zeke have enough distinctiveness to be compelling: flush with unique interests, wrought family dynamics and ambition, the two teenagers have all the quirks of a John Green protagonist. Yet, their trajectories through the book’s plot render them as flimsy caricatures, more half-finished concept sketches than flesh and bone. Youthful self-importance and artistic exigence might be plausible motivations to fuel a narrative the length of a short story, but the book can’t seem to muster enough steam to cover the bases of a novel that encompasses decades.

The phrase that adorns their poster, too, feels washed-out by the time its closing chapter reams past. Too flowery to be catchphrased and too contextually weightless to be grounded by the novel’s specificity, it capitalizes on ornamentation in the vein of a viral Tumblr quote. Though Frankie mumbles it in her sleep even decades after its initial conception, there’s little to support its sense of primacy; in fact, its blissful ambivalence is perhaps the book’s most disillusioning component.

Despite its inspired premise, “Now is Not the Time to Panic” is unable to convince its audience of the magnetism it so fervently strives to evince, leaving the reader at somewhat of a loss as to why the bygone summer of 1996 lingers so heavily in Frankie’s consciousness. However, the novel’s attempt to broach themes of art’s power and once-in-a-lifetime human connection is commendably audacious, even if its most engaging elements — family, growing pains and adulthood — are relegated to the back burner.

Charmingly ambitious yet prosaically pedestrian, “Now is Not the Time to Panic” carries just enough poignance to casually rivet, but falls short of the charisma, depth and execution necessary to be truly incandescent. Though rife with the bursting imagination of a seasoned writer, the novel’s pitfalls dangle dangerously close to the edge of panic, grasping for a foothold above a precipice of disenchantment.

Since I'm a fan of pretty much anything Kevin Wilson writes, I had to read Now Is Not the Time to Panic. The foreword of the book explains some of the meaning behind the story. It was really moving - much more than I expected. There are so many layers to the characters that I really enjoyed exploring each of them in the two families represented throughout the story. Well done!

I am sad that I am finished reading this book, because now I am not reading it anymore. I so very much enjoyed it. I love the quirkiness and all the odd details and the feelings and images in the writing as well as the story, which I can't tell or explain because then I'd ruin the experience of the readers. I shared lines from the book with my son, who needs to read it, and with an online group, and I immediately got responses from many people in that group who were touched with the quote that I shared in the same way that I had been touched. So freaking much awesomeness! This story is set in 1996 before the internet could spread ideas and things like wildfire, but some things still did. Frankie and Zeke, two 16 years olds accidentally set off something so much bigger than they could have imagined. And this is the story of how that happened.

Kevin Wilson is.a favorite, so I was excited to read Now is Not the Time to Panic. It took me awhile to get into it. The angst of the lonely days of summer were difficult to connect with. However, once Frankie and Zeke began their experiment I was hooked. I was transported back to a time when people used land lines to call each other and news was shared via the daily paper or the evening news. When the protagonists innocently shared their art, the message took on a life of its own. Wilson creates characters that seem like someone we all know. He bounces from thirty years ago and current day with ease and brings the reader into the lives of Frankie and Zeke. If you like a bit of nostalgia combined with teenage days of self identification, this one is a must.

I read about 25% and wasn't clicking with the characters - I loved his last book but this one wasn't coming together quickly enough for me. DNF.

Thank you Ecco for a galley of this in exchange for an honest review!

Now is Not the Time to Panic is another slice of life novel from Kevin Wilson and this time we follow Frankie over the course of one unforgettable summer as she sets up a series of events with at times fatal consequences.

Wilson really does that slice of life story telling so well and this is no exception. I have a lot of admiration for authors who can effectively tell a story that takes place over a shorter period of time yet still make the world feel larger than that. I think all of this hinges on how well his characters are written and once again he does that pretty well…at least with his main characters.

The humor in this is also very quick and smart and a lot of it relies on those characters and their flaws. This will work for some and not for others. For me it really works and I did find myself smiling from time to time at some of the things happening.

The book does have its issues - Frankie and Zeke’s (Frankie’s new friend) escapades sometimes feel a bit tedious as the book goes on and the dialogue feels stilted for some characters in a way that surprised me…almost as if Wilson wasn’t quite sure who they were.

Still for the time spent on this and the fact that I really had a good time with it I would recommend this.

The ending to this book tied this story up nicely but I'm conflicted how I feel about the plot as a whole. A lot of time was spent focused on the past and not a lot on the present. This book is slow paced and there is a lot to learn before the story starts coming together.

I am not sure how I feel about this story. There were parts of it that I REALLY enjoyed, and I liked the writing style in general. However, there were parts where I felt like I was out of the loop, like I was missing something. Why was she so obsessed with the posters, and why did the town go crazy? Was this entire book supposed to be a metaphor for something else? If it was I definitely missed it. I took the story at face value and enjoyed most of it, particularly the retrospective pieces about what was happening around the globe in a pre-internet/viral era.

Being a teen in the 80's and 90's, I understand this book. I understand the characters. I relate to their boredom and angst, living each day to figure themselves out and struggling with it all. Trying to be heard, to be seen but then not wanting to be noticed at all. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I believe "the edge" saying can change and evolve into different meanings for everyone depending on the day. Thank you.

Thank you to Kevin Wilson, Ecco Publishing, and Netgalley for a digital ARC of NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC, in exchange for which I've offered my honest opinion.

In this much anticipated 2022 thriller from Kevin Wilson, two teenage artists make a piece of art that sends shockwaves through their community. The consequences of their actions loom large and profound, and hover much later than either of them expect. Their art changes them, their lives, and the world around them.

This is a book about the power of creation, of telegraphing, of messaging. It discusses the methods and ethics of exposing consumers to ideas in the same space as it explores the potential of the ideas themselves, making for an interesting tone and texture. I definitely think this book is mismarketed as a thriller. I don't like the author's handling of the topic of suicide, but then, I rarely do. Because so much of this story happens on a subtextual level, the plot suffers a touch of anemia. A cup of strong coffee will see a reader through the worst of the boring parts, though, and the thematic payoff is worth it.

Rating 🎨🎨🎨.5 / 5 messy paint palettes
Finished December 2022
Recommended? Sure, it was interesting.
Read this if you like:
🖍️ Art
👫 Teenage friendships
💭 Mental health rep
❤️‍🔥Young love

I've read all of Kevin Wilson's books and Now Is Not the Time to Panic was another amazingly moving and wonderful read

Loved this book! Kevin Wilson writes so much in what always feels like not enough pages. This book was so weird and wonderful and I have recommended it countless times since reading.

Now Is Not The Time To Panic seals the deal... Kevin Wilson is an auto-buy author for me from now on. I loved what his latest novel had to say about teenage alienation and connection, as well as the power of collaborative creativity to provide comfort and healing. The story is beautifully written... I highlighted many touching passages that really spoke to me. The book had just the right amount of mystery and uncertainty to keep me reading, and it's absolutely overflowing with heart. The author's note about his inspiration for the story and the book's central quotation is top notch, probably the more memorable author's note I've ever read. It actually added to my enjoyment of the novel!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Ecco for the opportunity to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I can't wait to read Wilson's future publications!

Oh. Oh my.

I grabbed this book because I was a fan of Nothing to See Here. And I was not disappointed.

I loved the commentary on the life art gains once it leaves your hands. How it’s no longer yours anymore.

I loved Frankie and Zeke. How well matched they were. How real they felt to me. I loved how chaotically hopeful they were. The aching feeling of wanting back one specific moment in your life was written really well.

The virality of photos and phrases is well known in today’s society where social media drives the spread of a wide range of photos and phrases, but the effects of viral art on their creators is not so well known. This is one of the things that Now Is Not the Time to Panic (Ecco, 2022) seeks to examine. The book follows two teenagers, Frankie Budge and Zeke, through their creation of an art movement around a poster with the phrase: The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us. As others in the town begin to participate in the movement, the consequences of hanging up the posters spiral out of Frankie and Zeke’s control, sometimes resulting in those others paying the ultimate price for their involvement. Frankie and Zeke not only grapple with the consequences of spreading the posters, but also with what it means to be a person and what the effect of art is in society.
This effect of art is poignantly addressed throughout the book. As the posters gather attention, Frankie and Zeke discuss its spread:
“‘We made the poster. So we can still control it, I think.’
‘I don’t think that’s how art works,’ he said, unsure of himself, which was disconcerting because, even though Zeke had always been kind of nervous, he’d always seemed really self-assured about what he thought he knew about the world” (92).
Unlike how Frankie imagines it, the spread of the posters does go wildly out of their control, but before it even happens, Zeke realizes that it’s possible for a piece of art to no longer be in the creator’s hands. Once the piece has been shared with the world, there’s no stopping how people interpret or use it. Art does not exist in a vacuum to be controlled by those who made it.
The prose is thoughtful without being overly complex. At times, it meanders away from the main plot, causing some confusion of focus, but Wilson reigns it in quickly enough that the story doesn’t go off the rails. The purpose of this wandering is clear: readers are firmly in the head of Frankie, and she has tangents when she thinks about what’s going on. After Zeke and Frankie have hung up enough posters that others are copying them, they see
“this girl, Madeline, hanging posters without any real fear of being caught, just stapling them to trees in the park. Madeline had been a cheerleader in junior high but then, I don’t know exactly why because I wasn’t aware of the complex negotiations required to be popular, she’d quit and started hanging out with he theater kids. She wasn’t a goth, not really, because I don’t think anyone really knew exactly what that was. I mean, she listened to Nine Inch Nails. She wore a lot of black eyeliner. We didn’t know what to call that, but we just knew that Madeline was suddenly not the Madeline who had been the sturdy base of the pyramid during pep rallies. She was transformed” (107).
There is a certain amount of deviation from the detail that is most relevant to the plot (Madeline hanging up posters) in order to demonstrate Frankie’s thought process as this is going on. The digression doesn’t last for long though. In the next paragraph, the story snaps back to plot relevant information, keeping the story moving and readers engaged.
The plot in combination with the prose draws readers in, engrossing them with anticipation over what will happen next. I could not put the book down. At least for most of it. The end drops the ball—the moments that should have tension lack it, causing disinterest. Because of the way that the plot progresses in the final quarter, readers know what the ending entails in full. They grow up—we get it, but where’s the nuance? What’s so different about Frankie and Zeke’s relationship with each other that separates them from every other young adult protagonist that matures at the end of the novel? Readers have seen this type of end before. There’s nothing exceptional about it.
As a whole, Now Is Not the Time to Panic thoughtfully engages with ideas surrounding growing up, young love, and art’s importance in society. The story is captivating for both the plot elements as well as the stylistic choices, and even with the end being on the weaker side, the book is still a wonderful coming-of-age novel.

Thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. I’d previously read Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang by the same author, so I was anxious to read Wilson’s newest book. It did not disappoint. He writes beautifully flawed characters and I loved the story of Frankie and Zeke’’s life changing summer. I’ll continue reading more by this author in the future.

Published by Ecco on November 8, 2022

The nature and consequences of art are the focal points of Now Is Not the Time to Panic. An act of artistic creation changes lives, including the life of its creators.

Frances Budge, known to all as Frankie, is a wife and mother when she tells the story of the summer she met Benjamin Ezekiel Brown, known for the summer as Zeke. Frankie was sixteen, living in Coalfield with her mother and hell-raising triplet brothers. Zeke’s mother moved from Memphis to Coalfield to stay with Zeke’s grandmother after his father took up with another woman. Frankie and Zeke bonded over their status as the children of cheaters and their interest in artistic expression. Frankie wanted to be a writer. Zeke liked to draw and planned to go to art school.

Frankie tells the story to the reader because Mazzie Brower, an art critic, has discovered the role that Frankie played in the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Mazzie has only uncovered part of the story but she plans to write what she knows. Frankie will need to decide how much of the full story she is willing to reveal to a national audience.

Frankie and Zeke decided to spend the summer making art. Frankie remembered a copy machine that her brothers stole and stashed in their garage. The two teens decided to make and distribute a letter-size poster. Frankie wrote two sentences: The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us. Zeke added drawings of shacks with collapsing roofs and beds occupied by children in twisted sheets. Two giant hands with withered fingers almost grasp the children but the hands are suspended in motion, never quite able to touch them. Frankie and Zeke each contributed drops of blood to the poster, drops that looked like stars when the poster was copied. They made hundreds of copies and surreptitiously hung them on walls, telephone poles, and bulletin boards. They vowed to keep their roles as creators a secret. They wanted to observe the public reaction, if any, to their art without sullying the reaction by revealing themselves.

Frankie had no idea what the sentence meant when she wrote it. Zeke didn’t know what the drawing meant. True art, the novel suggests, comes from the heart or soul, not just from the mind. That’s why it doesn’t always turn out to be what the artist envisioned.

The story also suggests that what art means to the artist may be less significant than what it means to its audience. A local reporter, who happens to be dating Frankie’s mother, believes the posters are nefarious. His reporting is fueled by a preacher who imagines the posters originated with a satanic cult. Within a few weeks, the mysterious posters have gained national attention. Kids in other cities are making and hanging their own versions of the posters. As they do when they recognize something that speaks to them, people arrive at interpretations of the words and art that are relevant to their own lives, interpretations that never consciously occurred to Frankie or Zeke.

Events get out of hand in Coalfield when a couple of kids who were screwing in the woods claim they were kidnapped by the satanic cult to explain why they didn’t come home. Fat old men get beered up and patrol the streets with guns. Tragedies ensue on a couple of fronts, leading to national headlines about the Coalfield Panic. Frankie and Zeke feel vaguely responsible for the unintended consequences of their art, although Zeke is mostly worried about going to jail.

Apart from its commentary on the unexpected forces that art can unleash, Now Is Not the Time to Panic is remarkable for its insightful portrayal of two lost kids, each damaged by a cheating father, who are drawn to each other yet terrified of the prospect of having sex. They can kiss for hours, but they channel their sexual energy into art. “We’d kissed and our prudish brains couldn’t handle it, so we invented some mantra that would unlock the mysteries of the universe.” Zeke shows signs of a manic-depressive disorder. Frankie has a fear of intimacy, yet her larger fear is that she’ll lose Zeke when the summer ends.

Frankie and Zeke have the kind of relationship that cannot last but is perfect for its moment, a relationship that can never be forgotten, that defines part of the life that follows. As they are making the poster, Frankie has the sense that she “would trace my whole life back to this moment, my finger bleeding, this boy’s beautiful and messed-up mouth on mine, a work of art between us. I knew it would probably fuck me up. And that was fine.” Near the novel’s end, as Frankie thinks about speaking to Mazzie Brower, we learn how the poster has affected the next decades of Frankie’s and Zeke’s lives.

Kevin Wilson tells the story in understated prose that is perfect for a novel that undersells its drama. Wilson proves that prose doesn’t need to be flashy and a story doesn’t need to be histrionic to be spellbinding. In a series of carefully crafted scenes during a single summer and a few additional days in the present, Wilson delivers more intensity and insight than most writers manage with twice as many words.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I really loved this author’s last book “Nothing to see here”. So, when I saw this on Netgalley, I immediately requested this book.

I really appreciated the author notes and sharing his personal story in the writing of this book. That being said, I just really couldn’t connect to the characters or the story in general.

Thank you Netgalley for extending me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kevin Wilson’s novel Now Is Not the Time to Panic is built around the relationship between two loner teenagers in the small, drab town of Coalfield. It’s 1996, and 16-year-old Frankie lives with her mother and rowdy, older triplet brothers. Frankie is a loner while her brothers move in a mass of testosterone-driven mayhem. Frankie’s mother works hard to support the family since her husband departed with a much younger woman and established a whole new family. He even had the nerve to call his new daughter Frankie–as if the original just faded away or died. This is a period of great confusion for Frankie. While other girls talk nonstop about boys and sex, Frankie doesn’t relate at all to other girls’ interests, and consequently she becomes even more mentally isolated. Then into her life comes Zeke. He moved to Coalfield after his father took up with a younger woman (women as it turns out), so right away the two teens bond over their fathers’ abandonment. Zeke comes from Memphis and now lives with his depressed mother and grandmother. He doesn’t understand what Coalfield people “do for fun.”

“This town is weird,” he said. “It’s like a bomb was dropped on it, and you guys are just getting back to normal.”

Frankie, our narrator, admits “I lived inside myself way more than I lived inside this town,” while Zeke is emotionally distressed by recent events and goes “into some trance […] and gets destructive.” They realise that they are “both alone in the same way.” They “both had dads who sucked.”


The two teens start hanging out, and out of boredom, they create a poster. Zeke is the artist and Frankie creates the words:

The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.

Using a copier stolen by Frankie’s brothers, the two teens makes 100s of copies of the poster and then begin hanging them all over town. Two local teens use the poster as an excuse for staying out and drinking; they claim they met the devil-worshipping “fugitives” who made the poster. Nothing ever happens in Coalfield so the news that devil worshippers are on the outskirts of town, drives many of the residents into a frenzy. Soon, there’s a “poster posse” a “dad militia” guarding the streets and all hell breaks loose.

The plot follows Zeke and Frankie in 1996, and then some chapters take place twenty years later when Frankie, now a successful author, is contacted by a journalist regarding the “Coalfield Panic of 96.” There’s a sweetness to this novel, and the sweetness dominates any humour. These are two very sad teens, good kids who are struggling to adjust to their new lives, and for a while at least they think they can help each other. The novel also has an amazingly sincere introduction from the author explaining the genesis of the novel. There is something about Wilson’s approach to life: it’s fascinating, fresh quirkiness that appeals to me. I am not a fan of books about teens but I enjoyed this, its exploration of moral responsibility, individuality and friendship. I particularly liked the idea that nonconformity and creativity are right there for these two teens, and the plot shows how these two teens shaped each other for the years ahead.

Our life, which was so boring and normal was still happening. Right at this moment, as everything was changing, it was like my life didn’t know it yet. It didn’t know to just stop, to freeze, because nothing was going to be the same. Let the pizza burn,. Forget about that stupid, shitty latch on the window. Pack up your stuff. Let’s get the hell out of here. Let’s burn down the house and start over.