What do you think?
Rate this book
The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays
In the Heart of Mystery Lies Redemption...
Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center—a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion.
When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center's mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception.
But Oona holds two she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.
An extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center—a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion.
When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center's mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception.
But Oona holds two she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.
An extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published May 26, 2026
About the author
Andrea Hairston
21 books388 followersAndrea Hairston is an African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright and novelist who is best known for her novels Mindscape and Redwood and Wildfire. Mindscape, Hairston's first novel, won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award and short-listed for the Philip K. Dick Award and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
She is the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre and has created original productions with music, dance, and masks for more than a decade. Hairston is also the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. She teaches playwriting, African, African American, and Caribbean theatre literature. Her plays have been produced at Yale Rep, Rites and Reason, the Kennedy Center, StageWest, and on public radio and television. In addition, Hairston has translated plays by Michael Ende and Kaca Celan from German to English.
(source: Wikipedia)
She is the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre and has created original productions with music, dance, and masks for more than a decade. Hairston is also the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. She teaches playwriting, African, African American, and Caribbean theatre literature. Her plays have been produced at Yale Rep, Rites and Reason, the Kennedy Center, StageWest, and on public radio and television. In addition, Hairston has translated plays by Michael Ende and Kaca Celan from German to English.
(source: Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
June 17, 2026
Loved this book so much! Here's my blurb for it: ""Immerse yourself in the brave, brilliant, and beautiful world of Andrea Hairston's unparalleled imagination. This book is a gift, a warm embrace in the darkness of winter; it's a story that beckons us in, then challenges us, changes us, and breaks and remakes the world with its song. Conjuring at its best."
Daniel José Older
Daniel José Older
April 7, 2026
Thank you Tor Books @tor.com Netgalley @netgalley and Andrea Hairston for this free book!
“The RedemptionCenter is Closed on Sundays” by Andrea Hairston ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Dystopian Fiction.
Every Sunday, Oona the otherworldly St. Berdoodle and current owner Zsuzsu follow the State Park’s winding paths to the enigmatic Redemption Center mansion. When a neighbor is murdered, Oona and a group of local misfits try to untangle the threads of murder and deception. Oona has 2 secrets: 1. She’s a citizen of the multiverse, raised by a carnival family, able to travel between dimensions at will. 2. She knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and plans to silence her and her friends for good.
Author Hairston’s book is filled with introspective misfit characters, including Paula, believer in magic and peace, podcast journalist An’quenique-and then there’s Oona the dog detective, looking for her carnival family, but who just can’t stop chasing the scent of a new case. The quirky plot includes magic, mystery, aliens, and a focus on the goodness and braveness of people. In Hairston’s interdimensional universe, community wins over evil-and don’t we all wish that was the case here on our non-magical earth!
From the cover, you might think this is a cozy, dog-centered, scifi/fantasy mystery. There IS a lovable dog, and there IS a murder to be solved. But the focus is on community, justice, dystopian climate change, and following the “peace path”. The writing is full of shifting perspectives, random quirky characters, metaphors, and stream-of-consciousness ponderings. Those unique characteristics, at least for me, made it hard to read. At one point, character Paula ponders: “In the welter of clues, how did you sort the signal from the noise?” That’s the question I ask myself about this story…and I don’t know the answer. I had trouble sorting it all out. It’s 3⭐️s from me 📚👩🏼🦳 #netgalley
“The RedemptionCenter is Closed on Sundays” by Andrea Hairston ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Dystopian Fiction.
Every Sunday, Oona the otherworldly St. Berdoodle and current owner Zsuzsu follow the State Park’s winding paths to the enigmatic Redemption Center mansion. When a neighbor is murdered, Oona and a group of local misfits try to untangle the threads of murder and deception. Oona has 2 secrets: 1. She’s a citizen of the multiverse, raised by a carnival family, able to travel between dimensions at will. 2. She knows the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and plans to silence her and her friends for good.
Author Hairston’s book is filled with introspective misfit characters, including Paula, believer in magic and peace, podcast journalist An’quenique-and then there’s Oona the dog detective, looking for her carnival family, but who just can’t stop chasing the scent of a new case. The quirky plot includes magic, mystery, aliens, and a focus on the goodness and braveness of people. In Hairston’s interdimensional universe, community wins over evil-and don’t we all wish that was the case here on our non-magical earth!
From the cover, you might think this is a cozy, dog-centered, scifi/fantasy mystery. There IS a lovable dog, and there IS a murder to be solved. But the focus is on community, justice, dystopian climate change, and following the “peace path”. The writing is full of shifting perspectives, random quirky characters, metaphors, and stream-of-consciousness ponderings. Those unique characteristics, at least for me, made it hard to read. At one point, character Paula ponders: “In the welter of clues, how did you sort the signal from the noise?” That’s the question I ask myself about this story…and I don’t know the answer. I had trouble sorting it all out. It’s 3⭐️s from me 📚👩🏼🦳 #netgalley
June 16, 2026
This book is hilarious, fascinating, and full of spine tingling plot and story. I really appreciated the deliciously diverse and lovable characters - and especially the dog! Yes, the dog, who is the most wonderfully written dog character I've ever experienced. I love the way the author writes about a circle of friends and acquaintances and all their funny and heart-wrenching entanglements while also solving a heinous murder and challenging the readers sense of reality and justice, too. If you want a thrilling mystery with a spicy, philosophical kick, this is it! So cool to encounter an imagination-full, finely-written murder mystery that even has something to say!
July 3, 2026
This is a fun sci-fi/ murder mystery/fantasy story where we have a dimension hopper who is investigating the murder of a musician with the help of the cleaning lady and her client. Step out of the ordinary and into this otherworldly one and help solve this mystery. For audiobook readers, Jasmin Walker really brings this story alive in your ears with her fun range of voices. This is one story you don't want to miss.
Did Not Finish
May 25, 2026I just couldn't get into it. Could be better not as an audio book maybe. It just seemed to bounce all over and there was no voice distinction between characters when it switched points of view. Could be a mix of the switch not being clear too.
April 16, 2026
I really like that we get a dog detective alongside Hairston's menagerie of weirdos, and it manages to blend what could be just a cozy murder mystery with larger questions of climate dystopia, justice, and community. yes, the POVs are definitely out there because our core mystery solvers are themselves out there (and in some cases, citizens of the multiverse), but they're still able to be followed by the reader. Thanks to Tor for the ARC, and highly recommend picking this up when it comes out in May!
June 15, 2026
More quirky whimsy from Andrea Hairston.
As with her last book, she does a great job of writing a highly intelligent dog character as one of the leads.
I get that Hairston’s books aren’t for everyone, but I enjoy the strong women and dog characters with their stories set in a not quite now.
I hope Paula earns her detective degree and comes back in future mysteries with Oona lending a nose.
As with her last book, she does a great job of writing a highly intelligent dog character as one of the leads.
I get that Hairston’s books aren’t for everyone, but I enjoy the strong women and dog characters with their stories set in a not quite now.
I hope Paula earns her detective degree and comes back in future mysteries with Oona lending a nose.
May 27, 2026
i am hesitant to give an uncorrected advance copy such a low score, but even if the multiple editing/writing errors were fixed i just dont think this would have worked for me. too convoluted, too many characters, too all over the place. it largely felt like a pain to read and i couldnt wait for it to be over.
that said, there’s a certain charm to it, certain parts worked well (leaning into some of the character work), and certainly if youre a big murder mystery fan and love a spanning diverse cast this may be your speed
thank u for the free copy!
that said, there’s a certain charm to it, certain parts worked well (leaning into some of the character work), and certainly if youre a big murder mystery fan and love a spanning diverse cast this may be your speed
thank u for the free copy!
June 19, 2026
I loved this book. It’s a great read and gives you more than most books do—it’s funny and surprising and moving. But I think that you have to look what it’s doing before you see how good it is. It’s a mystery, but the official mystery—a serial killer—is less important than the mysteriousness of a world that is stranger than any of its grumbling, quirky characters can comprehend. Part murder mystery, part fantasy, part love-story, part myth, it’s a rollercoaster. The narrative jumps from mind to mind, and from time to time, as its isolated people gradually form a community. Its central space, the redemption center in which the characters find themselves caught, is a gate to another reality and a place of personal transformation. Hairston doesn’t write cozy. Like Octavia Butler or N.K. Jemisin, she describes serious violence, but she also gives hope, most powerfully through the mind of Oona, the wonder-dog at the book’s center. I think it’s terrific.
June 11, 2026
the redemption center may be closed on sundays, but my confusion was open 24/7 — 1.75 stars
i spent most of this book trying to figure out who was talking. i needed a character list, a flowchart, and emotional support. i really wanted to like this. a dimension-hopping dog solving a murder sounds exactly like the kind of weird nonsense i would enjoy. unfortunately, this was just... a lot.
there are so many characters, so many plot points, so many perspectives, and so many ideas being thrown around that it all starts to blur together. most of the characters had very similar voices, so i was constantly having to stop and work out who i was following. there were multiple points where i genuinely could not tell whether the narrator was a person or the dog. every time i figured out what was happening, the book introduced three more people.
and look, i am all for weird books. but there is a difference between weird and confusing.
the book seems to want to be a murder mystery, a multiverse story, a social commentary, a community drama, a philosophical reflection on existence, and about five other things all at once. none of those ideas are bad individually, but crammed into one book they end up competing with each other rather than strengthening each other.
that said, i can absolutely see why some people loved this. there is a certain charm to it, and you can tell there is a lot of imagination behind it. some of the character moments worked well, and the focus on community was probably the strongest aspect for me.
but overall, reading this felt like being dropped into the middle of a conversation where everyone already knows each other and nobody bothers explaining what is going on. like genuinely, i spent a concerning amount of time trying to determine whether a character was a human, a dog, or from another dimension. who done it? no seriously, who is speaking right now?
thank you to the author and netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review <3
i spent most of this book trying to figure out who was talking. i needed a character list, a flowchart, and emotional support. i really wanted to like this. a dimension-hopping dog solving a murder sounds exactly like the kind of weird nonsense i would enjoy. unfortunately, this was just... a lot.
there are so many characters, so many plot points, so many perspectives, and so many ideas being thrown around that it all starts to blur together. most of the characters had very similar voices, so i was constantly having to stop and work out who i was following. there were multiple points where i genuinely could not tell whether the narrator was a person or the dog. every time i figured out what was happening, the book introduced three more people.
and look, i am all for weird books. but there is a difference between weird and confusing.
the book seems to want to be a murder mystery, a multiverse story, a social commentary, a community drama, a philosophical reflection on existence, and about five other things all at once. none of those ideas are bad individually, but crammed into one book they end up competing with each other rather than strengthening each other.
that said, i can absolutely see why some people loved this. there is a certain charm to it, and you can tell there is a lot of imagination behind it. some of the character moments worked well, and the focus on community was probably the strongest aspect for me.
but overall, reading this felt like being dropped into the middle of a conversation where everyone already knows each other and nobody bothers explaining what is going on. like genuinely, i spent a concerning amount of time trying to determine whether a character was a human, a dog, or from another dimension. who done it? no seriously, who is speaking right now?
thank you to the author and netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review <3
June 12, 2026
This was my first NetGalley ARC (thanks!) picked on a whim for cute -dog-on-cover and interesting sounding blurb, but I hate to say it just didn't work for me at all. There was a bit too much perspective jumping and it took me like half the book to be able to keep them straight. It didn't feel like there was any real world-building - you're just kind of thrown in and hopefully can figure out enough to follow what's going on (and I couldn't). I just felt confused a lot of the time, which is not something I'm used to and it was frustrating to keep having to go back and re-listen and put down/pickup the audiobook a lot. Oona's perspective felt the most cohesive, and I enjoyed that more than the others, I guess? I rarely DNF books, but this would have been a DNF if not for the first NetGalley ARC thing. I wanted to be able to give it a review, and I hate for my first one to be a bad one, but between the characters and writing style and confusing storyline and maybe listening to the audiobook, this was a big miss for me.
June 16, 2026
I tried to eyeball this one but I really just couldn't get into it. Thankfully I had the ALC as well so I dove into it that way. While I found listening to it to be more enjoyable, I really struggled to tell the characters apart because they all had the same exact vocal tone. That was probably the easiest thing that made this book tough to read.
The time was all over the place. I could not figure out what day or setting we were in. Unless you are eyeballing this one, you REALLY need to pay attention to what each chapter is to understand what day/setting you were in. All of that aside, the buildup draaaaaagged on for so long.
The premise of this book being a murder mystery with a dog that can jump through the multiverse is really fun, however it just felt really muddy to get through the story entirely. I loved the themes of friendship, climate change, and folklore, but it took a lot to get to these topics, in my opinion.
Thank you Tor for my ARC and ALC!
The time was all over the place. I could not figure out what day or setting we were in. Unless you are eyeballing this one, you REALLY need to pay attention to what each chapter is to understand what day/setting you were in. All of that aside, the buildup draaaaaagged on for so long.
The premise of this book being a murder mystery with a dog that can jump through the multiverse is really fun, however it just felt really muddy to get through the story entirely. I loved the themes of friendship, climate change, and folklore, but it took a lot to get to these topics, in my opinion.
Thank you Tor for my ARC and ALC!
Did Not Finish
June 3, 2026DNF'ed at 12%. Life is too short to read books you don't enjoy, and I'm not liking this book one bit. I don't know if a character is supposed to be a dog or a human, and it gets old really fast if you're having to play a guessing game.
Also, I feel like this book was just on something, and now I'm going to need something.
Also, I feel like this book was just on something, and now I'm going to need something.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays has the kind of premise that sounds fake when you explain it out loud to another person. A giant fluffy St. Berdoodle named Oona solves a murder while navigating multiverse nonsense, local celebrity chaos, alien tricksters, and an extremely suspicious haunted mansion situation called the Redemption Center, which absolutely sounds like the place where a Victorian ghost would ask you to confront your childhood trauma before letting you leave. And somehow Andrea Hairston makes all of this feel emotionally sincere instead of like somebody lost a bet in a Dungeons & Dragons group chat.
The audiobook absolutely saved my life here because Jasmin Walker narrates this thing like she personally understands that the listener is trying to process seventeen different layers of reality while also emotionally attaching themselves to a very good dog. She gives everybody such distinct personality that even when the plot started spiraling into “you need a corkboard and three energy drinks to follow this” territory, I was still completely locked in. There’s warmth to the narration too, which matters because this book gets surprisingly tender underneath all the cosmic chaos.
And this book is CHAOTIC. Respectfully. There were moments where I felt like I accidentally wandered into the middle of a philosophy seminar hosted by the Muppets. Every time I thought I understood the rules, the story opened another dimensional doorway and tossed in a new mystery or another deeply eccentric side character who absolutely shops at the spiritual equivalent of an intergalactic farmer’s market. Meanwhile Oona is out here knowing who the killer is and handling that information with the energy of a toddler who found classified government documents.
But honestly, Oona works because underneath the chaos gremlin behavior there’s something genuinely sad about her. She’s caught between worlds in every possible way, emotionally and literally, and that loneliness sneaks up on you. The relationship between Oona and Zsuzsu gives the whole story its emotional center because there’s so much messy affection there. They love each other deeply, but it’s the exhausted kind of love where both people are carrying damage they don’t fully know how to explain. The book never sits in those feelings too long either, which I appreciated. It just stabs you emotionally and keeps moving like it has somewhere to be.
I do think the middle drags a little because the story is so packed with ideas that sometimes it feels like trying to drink from a fire hose filled with metaphysics. There were scenes where characters were talking about existence and destiny and interdimensional consequences while my brain was still buffering from the previous conversation. Some of the dialogue gets very lofty too, in a way that occasionally made me feel like everyone in town secretly minored in poetry. I kept wanting somebody to just say, “Can we circle back to the murder for one second?” while another portal opened behind them.
But even when I was confused, I was never bored, which honestly feels like the biggest compliment I can give a book this weird. There’s so much imagination here. The world feels alive and strange and overcrowded in a way that reminds me of Everything Everywhere All at Once if it got filtered through a community theater production run by extremely emotionally intelligent cryptids. And underneath all the weirdness, the story keeps circling back to community, grief, survival, and the fragile terrifying act of trusting other people. Which is rude, honestly. I came for dog detective nonsense and got hit with feelings about belonging.
By the end this settled into a very solid three stars for me because while I admired it more than I fully loved it, I can’t deny it’s doing something genuinely original. It’s heartfelt, ambitious, bizarre, occasionally exhausting, and completely committed to its own strange little frequency. And honestly? I’d rather read a book that swings too hard than one that never risks embarrassing itself.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Believe The Only Emotionally Stable Character In This Entire Multiverse Was the Dog
And huge thanks to RBmedia and NetGalley for the ALC, because nothing makes a morning commute more exciting than whispering “wait…WHO is dimension hopping now?” at a red light like I’m trying to solve the Zodiac case.
The audiobook absolutely saved my life here because Jasmin Walker narrates this thing like she personally understands that the listener is trying to process seventeen different layers of reality while also emotionally attaching themselves to a very good dog. She gives everybody such distinct personality that even when the plot started spiraling into “you need a corkboard and three energy drinks to follow this” territory, I was still completely locked in. There’s warmth to the narration too, which matters because this book gets surprisingly tender underneath all the cosmic chaos.
And this book is CHAOTIC. Respectfully. There were moments where I felt like I accidentally wandered into the middle of a philosophy seminar hosted by the Muppets. Every time I thought I understood the rules, the story opened another dimensional doorway and tossed in a new mystery or another deeply eccentric side character who absolutely shops at the spiritual equivalent of an intergalactic farmer’s market. Meanwhile Oona is out here knowing who the killer is and handling that information with the energy of a toddler who found classified government documents.
But honestly, Oona works because underneath the chaos gremlin behavior there’s something genuinely sad about her. She’s caught between worlds in every possible way, emotionally and literally, and that loneliness sneaks up on you. The relationship between Oona and Zsuzsu gives the whole story its emotional center because there’s so much messy affection there. They love each other deeply, but it’s the exhausted kind of love where both people are carrying damage they don’t fully know how to explain. The book never sits in those feelings too long either, which I appreciated. It just stabs you emotionally and keeps moving like it has somewhere to be.
I do think the middle drags a little because the story is so packed with ideas that sometimes it feels like trying to drink from a fire hose filled with metaphysics. There were scenes where characters were talking about existence and destiny and interdimensional consequences while my brain was still buffering from the previous conversation. Some of the dialogue gets very lofty too, in a way that occasionally made me feel like everyone in town secretly minored in poetry. I kept wanting somebody to just say, “Can we circle back to the murder for one second?” while another portal opened behind them.
But even when I was confused, I was never bored, which honestly feels like the biggest compliment I can give a book this weird. There’s so much imagination here. The world feels alive and strange and overcrowded in a way that reminds me of Everything Everywhere All at Once if it got filtered through a community theater production run by extremely emotionally intelligent cryptids. And underneath all the weirdness, the story keeps circling back to community, grief, survival, and the fragile terrifying act of trusting other people. Which is rude, honestly. I came for dog detective nonsense and got hit with feelings about belonging.
By the end this settled into a very solid three stars for me because while I admired it more than I fully loved it, I can’t deny it’s doing something genuinely original. It’s heartfelt, ambitious, bizarre, occasionally exhausting, and completely committed to its own strange little frequency. And honestly? I’d rather read a book that swings too hard than one that never risks embarrassing itself.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Believe The Only Emotionally Stable Character In This Entire Multiverse Was the Dog
And huge thanks to RBmedia and NetGalley for the ALC, because nothing makes a morning commute more exciting than whispering “wait…WHO is dimension hopping now?” at a red light like I’m trying to solve the Zodiac case.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
What a trippy little larger-than-life, community-centered mystery! The Redemption Center is Closed On Sundays is a swirl through time and multiple universes as a clever St. Berdoodle solves a mystery alongside a gaggle of interconnected humans.
Oona the St. Berdoodle loves the little community she’s built, from her current owner Zsuzsu to her popcorn pal Paula to her buddy at the library Belle. But when the town is rocked by a second bizarre murder, Oona has to unite her crew of misfits to take down the killer. The victims are found with torture marks and clutching dead exotic animals, and the found footage doesn’t make any sense at all.
What the humans don’t know is that Oona is a dimension-hopper and a brilliant search-and-rescue dog (thanks to the training from her former carnival crew) … and the murderer knows that she’s the only witness to the latest killing. Oona has to forge her way through tricky aliens and humans alike - and the mysterious Redemption Center, sitting in an in-between space - to catch the bad guy and make sure nobody else gets hurt.
Truthfully, this book wasn’t at all what I expected. I sat down ready for a quirky & cozy murder mystery, and what I got instead was a tender look at humanity. This isn’t a straightforward read at all. We bounce around between perspectives (both Oona’s and the humans surrounding her) and are almost-overwhelmingly initiated into this community of complicated outcasts hoping to do good, build relationships, and feel okay.
I think Andrea Hairston’s imagination knows no bounds. SO many different elements collided here, from group songs to fascinating villainous outfits to incredibly unique narrative voices. My mind was swirling through at least half of this - especially attempting to keep track of our ever-growing crew - but by the end of the book, I was fiercely involved. Don’t bail, okay? It’s a bit of a challenge, but it’s also a fresh kind of storytelling. My curiosity meter was off-the-charts, and that’s what helped me break through the confusion.
The narration is pretty evenly split up, but it’s hard not to feel particularly attached to Oona’s chapters. She’s a bit enigmatic, and I loved it. She’s not your typical dog (she’s a citizen of the multiverse, after all), and she understands a LOT of what’s happening around her, but she’s also still a dog! She has her own unique perspective and relationship to other animals and the world as a whole. Oona is determined, smart, and can win just about anybody over.
I appreciated the casual inclusivity and gentleness between all of the protagonists. Nobody feels like a stereotype; every character is so SPECIFIC and has their own brand of quirkiness. We meet disabled and queer characters; we meet analytical house cleaners and VR-obsessed podcasters and social activist librarians and a gaggle of gym rats wearing matching shoes. They’re all defined and unique, but also felt like people I knew by the end of the book.
This story is sometimes non-linear. It blends the lines between several genres. It lets its narrators go off on brain-swirling tangents about community change and social justice. It’s funky and I think it does occasionally lose its way, but it always charmed me. Because ultimately - murders and losses of loved ones aside - it is a story of hope, and how we can build better futures and find love & companionship wherever we turn.
CW: murder, death, kidnapping, poisoning, suicide, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty, gun violence, torture, child abuse (kidnapping), confinement, sexism, memory loss, mental health, corrupt police
Follow me on social media for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Oona the St. Berdoodle loves the little community she’s built, from her current owner Zsuzsu to her popcorn pal Paula to her buddy at the library Belle. But when the town is rocked by a second bizarre murder, Oona has to unite her crew of misfits to take down the killer. The victims are found with torture marks and clutching dead exotic animals, and the found footage doesn’t make any sense at all.
What the humans don’t know is that Oona is a dimension-hopper and a brilliant search-and-rescue dog (thanks to the training from her former carnival crew) … and the murderer knows that she’s the only witness to the latest killing. Oona has to forge her way through tricky aliens and humans alike - and the mysterious Redemption Center, sitting in an in-between space - to catch the bad guy and make sure nobody else gets hurt.
Truthfully, this book wasn’t at all what I expected. I sat down ready for a quirky & cozy murder mystery, and what I got instead was a tender look at humanity. This isn’t a straightforward read at all. We bounce around between perspectives (both Oona’s and the humans surrounding her) and are almost-overwhelmingly initiated into this community of complicated outcasts hoping to do good, build relationships, and feel okay.
I think Andrea Hairston’s imagination knows no bounds. SO many different elements collided here, from group songs to fascinating villainous outfits to incredibly unique narrative voices. My mind was swirling through at least half of this - especially attempting to keep track of our ever-growing crew - but by the end of the book, I was fiercely involved. Don’t bail, okay? It’s a bit of a challenge, but it’s also a fresh kind of storytelling. My curiosity meter was off-the-charts, and that’s what helped me break through the confusion.
The narration is pretty evenly split up, but it’s hard not to feel particularly attached to Oona’s chapters. She’s a bit enigmatic, and I loved it. She’s not your typical dog (she’s a citizen of the multiverse, after all), and she understands a LOT of what’s happening around her, but she’s also still a dog! She has her own unique perspective and relationship to other animals and the world as a whole. Oona is determined, smart, and can win just about anybody over.
I appreciated the casual inclusivity and gentleness between all of the protagonists. Nobody feels like a stereotype; every character is so SPECIFIC and has their own brand of quirkiness. We meet disabled and queer characters; we meet analytical house cleaners and VR-obsessed podcasters and social activist librarians and a gaggle of gym rats wearing matching shoes. They’re all defined and unique, but also felt like people I knew by the end of the book.
This story is sometimes non-linear. It blends the lines between several genres. It lets its narrators go off on brain-swirling tangents about community change and social justice. It’s funky and I think it does occasionally lose its way, but it always charmed me. Because ultimately - murders and losses of loved ones aside - it is a story of hope, and how we can build better futures and find love & companionship wherever we turn.
CW: murder, death, kidnapping, poisoning, suicide, suicidal ideation, animal cruelty, gun violence, torture, child abuse (kidnapping), confinement, sexism, memory loss, mental health, corrupt police
Follow me on social media for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this book of speculative fiction and mystery featuring a very good dog, a varied cast of characters, murder and whole lot more.
My last dog, and probably the last dog, probably last pet I will ever have, was a genius who walked on four paws, just because she wanted to. Mattie was the smartest dog I have ever had and ever seen. 40 pounds of mutt who walked like King Kong, sure of everything she did, who let me into her life, let me feed her, and clean up after her. Mattie was there when I lost my father, lost the best job I ever had, and in many ways felt lost in the world. We did a lot, but the one thing I regret is that I never let her solve mysteries. I think Mattie would have been quite good at that. Though I think this book might be a lot of a dog to take on. The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston is a story about the world we live in, the people around us, everyone good, bad, mad or indifferent in their own way, and a dog just trying to find its family, who keeps finding bodies.
Paula is trying to get to work when she is stopped by a fellow tenant, who spends a lot of time body building, and a lot of time worried about the world, He tells her about another muder in their small town in New England, the second that seems creepier than usual. The first was a waitress no on like, but this one is important. A social media influences, found dead in the same mysterious way. And maybe found by a dog. Paula fixes the man's wifi and leaves, but with thoughts about the dog, one that might be familiar to her. Oona is the dog in question, looking for her carnival friends, but doing their best to survive while trying to get a scent of their missing owners. Oona has abilities far beyond other dogs, and Paula and Oona start to work together in finding out what is going on. For this town has a lot of secrets, and a lot of people trying to do right, try to get by, and try to get away with murder.
This is not a cozy, though it might sound like one. Actually it is hard to say what it is. Speculative fiction about this modern world, with a dog and a large cast of characters is a good place to start. The book drops the reader right in, with Paula and her discussion about what is going on, and does have a lot of different narrators sharing things, including the dog Oona. There is a lot going on. A large business doing odd things, weird bodybuilders, an a lot of discussion about social justice, even African myth. There is a bit of a learner's curve, but one figures out what is going on, pretty quickly. A quirky story that takes a bit, but in the end was interesting, and kind of fun.
My last dog, and probably the last dog, probably last pet I will ever have, was a genius who walked on four paws, just because she wanted to. Mattie was the smartest dog I have ever had and ever seen. 40 pounds of mutt who walked like King Kong, sure of everything she did, who let me into her life, let me feed her, and clean up after her. Mattie was there when I lost my father, lost the best job I ever had, and in many ways felt lost in the world. We did a lot, but the one thing I regret is that I never let her solve mysteries. I think Mattie would have been quite good at that. Though I think this book might be a lot of a dog to take on. The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston is a story about the world we live in, the people around us, everyone good, bad, mad or indifferent in their own way, and a dog just trying to find its family, who keeps finding bodies.
Paula is trying to get to work when she is stopped by a fellow tenant, who spends a lot of time body building, and a lot of time worried about the world, He tells her about another muder in their small town in New England, the second that seems creepier than usual. The first was a waitress no on like, but this one is important. A social media influences, found dead in the same mysterious way. And maybe found by a dog. Paula fixes the man's wifi and leaves, but with thoughts about the dog, one that might be familiar to her. Oona is the dog in question, looking for her carnival friends, but doing their best to survive while trying to get a scent of their missing owners. Oona has abilities far beyond other dogs, and Paula and Oona start to work together in finding out what is going on. For this town has a lot of secrets, and a lot of people trying to do right, try to get by, and try to get away with murder.
This is not a cozy, though it might sound like one. Actually it is hard to say what it is. Speculative fiction about this modern world, with a dog and a large cast of characters is a good place to start. The book drops the reader right in, with Paula and her discussion about what is going on, and does have a lot of different narrators sharing things, including the dog Oona. There is a lot going on. A large business doing odd things, weird bodybuilders, an a lot of discussion about social justice, even African myth. There is a bit of a learner's curve, but one figures out what is going on, pretty quickly. A quirky story that takes a bit, but in the end was interesting, and kind of fun.
May 27, 2026
The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays jumps right into the deep end with this mile a minute murder mystery who's main protagonist is a metaphysically gifted dog in a mystery that is almost cozy, definitely anxiety inducing. If you are up to listening and tracking a large, diverse cast with interesting names and intense personalities with a whole lot of stray plot threads that eventually tie together in some unique speculative fiction, this is for you. And if my lost two sentences were too long or convoluted for you, I'm gonna guess this not your book.
The caveat of the book not being cozy comes due to specificity of the violence surrounding the murders and the overwhelming rapid fire avalanche of social and political issues that hit you from jump and never quite stop. Children are captured, tortured, and made complicit along with torture of various women by the antagonist. While those sections are relatively short, the overall writing captures overwhelming anxiety that comes from simply existing in the current world and then contrasts it with a magical dog story. Revelations about the setting often come from the dog's perspective, adding a layer of disorientation/mystery solving. This is deliberate due to the liminal/multiverse nature of the setting, but can also make it really difficult to navigate until you get more information. The novel is not built to sooth you.
That said, there are a lot of strong points. The dog is awesome and a great anchor for the narrative. Unironically, the theme of redemption is nicely explored. Human characters come from a wide variety of walks of life that feel authentic both in their interactions and their natures. The main romance is WLW and genuinely sweet. There are a million interesting Easter eggs that I know I didn't catch all of in the audiobook. There were definitely cute fandom shout outs and fun folklore references, especially to tricksters of multiple regions. The narrator has a fantastic voice and adds a lot of charm.
I would recommend accessing this novel in a way that you have both the text and the audio if you think you might struggle to track the connection or characters so you can get the full experience.
Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for the ARC of this audiobook.
The caveat of the book not being cozy comes due to specificity of the violence surrounding the murders and the overwhelming rapid fire avalanche of social and political issues that hit you from jump and never quite stop. Children are captured, tortured, and made complicit along with torture of various women by the antagonist. While those sections are relatively short, the overall writing captures overwhelming anxiety that comes from simply existing in the current world and then contrasts it with a magical dog story. Revelations about the setting often come from the dog's perspective, adding a layer of disorientation/mystery solving. This is deliberate due to the liminal/multiverse nature of the setting, but can also make it really difficult to navigate until you get more information. The novel is not built to sooth you.
That said, there are a lot of strong points. The dog is awesome and a great anchor for the narrative. Unironically, the theme of redemption is nicely explored. Human characters come from a wide variety of walks of life that feel authentic both in their interactions and their natures. The main romance is WLW and genuinely sweet. There are a million interesting Easter eggs that I know I didn't catch all of in the audiobook. There were definitely cute fandom shout outs and fun folklore references, especially to tricksters of multiple regions. The narrator has a fantastic voice and adds a lot of charm.
I would recommend accessing this novel in a way that you have both the text and the audio if you think you might struggle to track the connection or characters so you can get the full experience.
Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for the ARC of this audiobook.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
May 30, 2026Unfortunately, this was a DNF at 40%.
I think there's a certain charm to the book, and I liked the idea of a sci-fi/speculative fiction mystery. It has many factors that draw you in: a large cast, African culture woven throughout the story, multi-dimension hopping, and a crime-solving doodle. However, the story was just too convoluted.
I was constantly confused while listening to this. I did assume at one point that I needed to give the audiobook more attention, so I started it over and sat and listened to it without doing anything else until I caught up to where I was before restarting. I was still confused. The timeline is not linear, which is fine, but the way it's structured makes it hard to figure out what is going on at times. There are a lot of scenes that feel superfluous, but I don't like the idea of harping on that, as I am unsure whether the story is meant to be cozy (if it is, the scenes fit the genre to an extent). The large cast was also not handled well, in my opinion. I was uninterested in most of them and just wanted the story to move forward rather than getting another vague, seemingly directionless chapter where a few people converse about nothing.
There's also the multiverse of it all, which isn't properly explained. Perhaps it'll go into more detail later, but to throw it at me without any real explanation of what it is, why it exists, or any other general world-building explanations you would expect was a bit off-putting. It felt like I'd been dropped into a sequel without the necessary context and worldbuilding from the first book. There are little phrases that feel as though they should be common knowledge, but aren't, and the backstories are vague, as though it's meant to be a quick recap of something that was already explored in depth earlier.
However, I think what finally did it for me was realizing that at 40% in, nothing had been done to push the seemingly central plot, the murder mystery, forward, and I had no real handle on what was even going on. I found myself getting increasingly annoyed with the characters and the tangents that seemed to pop up in every chapter, and realized that my mood towards the story was too bleak. I realized that continuing would only be in bad faith, and that's not something I like to do. I'm sure this is for someone, but unfortunately, that was not me. I will say that the narrator did a good job and was the highlight of this audiobook. I don't think I would have made it as far without her narration.
I received a copy of the audio via NetGalley for review; all opinions are my own.
I think there's a certain charm to the book, and I liked the idea of a sci-fi/speculative fiction mystery. It has many factors that draw you in: a large cast, African culture woven throughout the story, multi-dimension hopping, and a crime-solving doodle. However, the story was just too convoluted.
I was constantly confused while listening to this. I did assume at one point that I needed to give the audiobook more attention, so I started it over and sat and listened to it without doing anything else until I caught up to where I was before restarting. I was still confused. The timeline is not linear, which is fine, but the way it's structured makes it hard to figure out what is going on at times. There are a lot of scenes that feel superfluous, but I don't like the idea of harping on that, as I am unsure whether the story is meant to be cozy (if it is, the scenes fit the genre to an extent). The large cast was also not handled well, in my opinion. I was uninterested in most of them and just wanted the story to move forward rather than getting another vague, seemingly directionless chapter where a few people converse about nothing.
There's also the multiverse of it all, which isn't properly explained. Perhaps it'll go into more detail later, but to throw it at me without any real explanation of what it is, why it exists, or any other general world-building explanations you would expect was a bit off-putting. It felt like I'd been dropped into a sequel without the necessary context and worldbuilding from the first book. There are little phrases that feel as though they should be common knowledge, but aren't, and the backstories are vague, as though it's meant to be a quick recap of something that was already explored in depth earlier.
However, I think what finally did it for me was realizing that at 40% in, nothing had been done to push the seemingly central plot, the murder mystery, forward, and I had no real handle on what was even going on. I found myself getting increasingly annoyed with the characters and the tangents that seemed to pop up in every chapter, and realized that my mood towards the story was too bleak. I realized that continuing would only be in bad faith, and that's not something I like to do. I'm sure this is for someone, but unfortunately, that was not me. I will say that the narrator did a good job and was the highlight of this audiobook. I don't think I would have made it as far without her narration.
I received a copy of the audio via NetGalley for review; all opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I apologize for the long review. It's necessary.
I was gifted an audiobook ARC and did not visually read this story. This is important. The audiobook narrated by Jasmin Walker was an interesting read. I enjoyed the narrator's voice and would definitely read more from them. My main problem with the book is that I had to keep rewinding in order to understand the content. It was no fault of the narrator, but there needs to be warnings to the setting changes and character changes, especially when there are dimensional/multiverse changes. It made it very hard to comprehend and thus, my enjoyment of the story went down with each time I had to rewind.
Regarding the story and strictly the story, the most likeable character for me was Oona the St. Berdoodle and I wanted more emotion and connection with Oona. The cover art suggests that Oona would have main character energy and she is not that. The story has a murder-mystery element, but I wouldn't consider this the main genre. In fact, I'm not sure where I would shelve this. I feel like this book is more speculative fiction with a sprinkle of murder and science-fiction. Yes, there is a lot going on. There are elements of speculation including the aspect of functioning community, climate change, peace and justice, and more. There are entire sections where the author writes as a stream of consciousness with shifts in focus. It makes it very hard for me to follow along.
I really wanted to like this read/listen. I feel like there is a lot of potential here with the author and the book just needed more clarity.
#TheRedemptionCenterisClosedonSundays #NetGalley #RBMedia
Thank you to RB Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was gifted an audiobook ARC and did not visually read this story. This is important. The audiobook narrated by Jasmin Walker was an interesting read. I enjoyed the narrator's voice and would definitely read more from them. My main problem with the book is that I had to keep rewinding in order to understand the content. It was no fault of the narrator, but there needs to be warnings to the setting changes and character changes, especially when there are dimensional/multiverse changes. It made it very hard to comprehend and thus, my enjoyment of the story went down with each time I had to rewind.
Regarding the story and strictly the story, the most likeable character for me was Oona the St. Berdoodle and I wanted more emotion and connection with Oona. The cover art suggests that Oona would have main character energy and she is not that. The story has a murder-mystery element, but I wouldn't consider this the main genre. In fact, I'm not sure where I would shelve this. I feel like this book is more speculative fiction with a sprinkle of murder and science-fiction. Yes, there is a lot going on. There are elements of speculation including the aspect of functioning community, climate change, peace and justice, and more. There are entire sections where the author writes as a stream of consciousness with shifts in focus. It makes it very hard for me to follow along.
I really wanted to like this read/listen. I feel like there is a lot of potential here with the author and the book just needed more clarity.
#TheRedemptionCenterisClosedonSundays #NetGalley #RBMedia
Thank you to RB Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read
May 27, 2026 The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays is not a straight forward story. It is a thriller, a slice of life, and a love story. It is a tale told in part by a dog.
My favorite parts of the novel were the moments when I got to know the characters. When I see them interact at a performance or on a bus. It lent some color to their lives.
I appreciated the ecological concerns that were brought out in the story, but I don't love being lectured, which I sort of felt here.
Jasmine Walker did a good job of telling us the story. Her narration helped bring me into the moment that was happening on the page, even as I struggled to understand what was going on in the novel. I did not appreciate the way that she pronounced "fungi" though.
I was confused a lot, but after I read and re-read the synopsis I was able to identify the framework and slot the chapters into it. This was incredibly helpful.
It was a quirky story and fun to listen to after I got my bearings. I did not however, connect with any of the characters. I could see them, who they were, even to some extent what they cared about, but, I did not care about them the way I would have liked.
With that said, if you are a person who likes a mysterious framework to a story, you may find this one to your liking. It has a lot going for it, but I really need a strong plot or character to hang onto. If this one had been all in one POV or felt more linear than I likely would have enjoyed it more.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this novel in exchange for an honest review.
My favorite parts of the novel were the moments when I got to know the characters. When I see them interact at a performance or on a bus. It lent some color to their lives.
I appreciated the ecological concerns that were brought out in the story, but I don't love being lectured, which I sort of felt here.
Jasmine Walker did a good job of telling us the story. Her narration helped bring me into the moment that was happening on the page, even as I struggled to understand what was going on in the novel. I did not appreciate the way that she pronounced "fungi" though.
I was confused a lot, but after I read and re-read the synopsis I was able to identify the framework and slot the chapters into it. This was incredibly helpful.
It was a quirky story and fun to listen to after I got my bearings. I did not however, connect with any of the characters. I could see them, who they were, even to some extent what they cared about, but, I did not care about them the way I would have liked.
With that said, if you are a person who likes a mysterious framework to a story, you may find this one to your liking. It has a lot going for it, but I really need a strong plot or character to hang onto. If this one had been all in one POV or felt more linear than I likely would have enjoyed it more.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this novel in exchange for an honest review.
May 30, 2026
The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston
Science fiction mystery. Multiple timeframe of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Zsuzau takes a bus to work at the Redemption Center. It’s too easy to get lost on the winding paths but her friend Oona, a St. Berdoodle, is excellent at finding the way. When a murder occurs, Oona helps follow the clues across the dimensional twisting paths.
🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Jasmin Walker. I liked the rhythm of the performance but all the different POV’s had the same voice and cadence. That made it a little difficult to tell who was in that chapter, though it clearly states the time and person at the start. Time was another bit of confusion factor as it changed often between what happened yesterday, tomorrow, or today. The lively upbeat voice did make me pay attention which was helpful.
I found it amusing that one of the POV’s was a dog. Oona thinks as a dog would with love, comfort and treats but has to communicate more complex needs to the humans. That was usually by a wagged tail, or a bark. Fortunately most of the other characters were able to somehow read the importance of what Oona is trying to tell them.
I was able to follow the mystery and storytelling after the first quarter as I finally figured out what was going on. Should have read the blurb.
Murder, twisted paths, and a unique cast made this science fiction dog detective mystery unlike a typical mystery. The audiobook upbeat performance helped keep me on the correct path to the end.
Uniqueness til the end.
I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher RBMedia.
Science fiction mystery. Multiple timeframe of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Zsuzau takes a bus to work at the Redemption Center. It’s too easy to get lost on the winding paths but her friend Oona, a St. Berdoodle, is excellent at finding the way. When a murder occurs, Oona helps follow the clues across the dimensional twisting paths.
🎧 I listened to an audiobook narrated by Jasmin Walker. I liked the rhythm of the performance but all the different POV’s had the same voice and cadence. That made it a little difficult to tell who was in that chapter, though it clearly states the time and person at the start. Time was another bit of confusion factor as it changed often between what happened yesterday, tomorrow, or today. The lively upbeat voice did make me pay attention which was helpful.
I found it amusing that one of the POV’s was a dog. Oona thinks as a dog would with love, comfort and treats but has to communicate more complex needs to the humans. That was usually by a wagged tail, or a bark. Fortunately most of the other characters were able to somehow read the importance of what Oona is trying to tell them.
I was able to follow the mystery and storytelling after the first quarter as I finally figured out what was going on. Should have read the blurb.
Murder, twisted paths, and a unique cast made this science fiction dog detective mystery unlike a typical mystery. The audiobook upbeat performance helped keep me on the correct path to the end.
Uniqueness til the end.
I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher RBMedia.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
***Won from a Goodreads.com giveaway
This is a difficult book to get into. The characters, almost all of them, have a similar way of talking and speaking that is more stream of consciousness than anything else. It makes it difficult to differentiate the characters from each other except where you are told who they are and constantly told what makes them different. Then there is the back and forth through time from which day it is. Each chapter tells you whether it is today or yesterday. My fault was that I didn't see that the chapter was headed with that information until several chapters in. For some reason, my eyes glossed over it. Entirely my fault, not the book. The buildup was also very, very slow.
But, eventually, more than halfway through? (I think) it finally picked up the pace, and I started enjoying it more. I even shed a tear or two. But...I did still scan-read parts of it as the characters' thoughts ran in tangents and sometimes in repeats. This is an advanced reading copy, so some of those things might be tightened up here and there later on.
Overall, this book does what it claims; it is a murder mystery with a multiverse-hopping pooch leading the investigation. But it is also a story about friendships, relationships, climate change, and a helping of folklore that was new to me. So, though it started off slow and confusing, I'm still glad I stuck around to the end.
This is a difficult book to get into. The characters, almost all of them, have a similar way of talking and speaking that is more stream of consciousness than anything else. It makes it difficult to differentiate the characters from each other except where you are told who they are and constantly told what makes them different. Then there is the back and forth through time from which day it is. Each chapter tells you whether it is today or yesterday. My fault was that I didn't see that the chapter was headed with that information until several chapters in. For some reason, my eyes glossed over it. Entirely my fault, not the book. The buildup was also very, very slow.
But, eventually, more than halfway through? (I think) it finally picked up the pace, and I started enjoying it more. I even shed a tear or two. But...I did still scan-read parts of it as the characters' thoughts ran in tangents and sometimes in repeats. This is an advanced reading copy, so some of those things might be tightened up here and there later on.
Overall, this book does what it claims; it is a murder mystery with a multiverse-hopping pooch leading the investigation. But it is also a story about friendships, relationships, climate change, and a helping of folklore that was new to me. So, though it started off slow and confusing, I'm still glad I stuck around to the end.
June 2, 2026
I wanted to like this book as the summary felt fun, mysterious, and a bit supernatural/ paranormal. I had the audiobook, which usually helps make a complicated book more understandable (for me) and it really did not. There is so much goin on and almost none of it is related to the actual mystery of the murdered celebrity.
There were moments I felt like I was kind of going crazy as the story just talks about nonsense and wanders all over the place. We have perspectives from several characters to include the dog, Oona, Apparently there is a multiverse which is why nothing seems to make sense but, by golly, please lay it out in such a way that I can follow what's happening.
I can honestly say, it seems Zsuzsu spent half the book riding on a bus, where she seems to go through tons of various conversations with the other people on the bus and she seems to be jealous of not getting invited to Hawaii? I put the question mark because I cannot be sure what was actually going on.
I personally feel this book needed a bit more refinement and is not at a stage where it is ready for mass reading. Also, the murder seems an afterthought compared to everything else happening. I would attempt a reread if it were edited in a more succinct manner. I don't feel the stream of consciousness perspective helped me in any meaningful way.
There were moments I felt like I was kind of going crazy as the story just talks about nonsense and wanders all over the place. We have perspectives from several characters to include the dog, Oona, Apparently there is a multiverse which is why nothing seems to make sense but, by golly, please lay it out in such a way that I can follow what's happening.
I can honestly say, it seems Zsuzsu spent half the book riding on a bus, where she seems to go through tons of various conversations with the other people on the bus and she seems to be jealous of not getting invited to Hawaii? I put the question mark because I cannot be sure what was actually going on.
I personally feel this book needed a bit more refinement and is not at a stage where it is ready for mass reading. Also, the murder seems an afterthought compared to everything else happening. I would attempt a reread if it were edited in a more succinct manner. I don't feel the stream of consciousness perspective helped me in any meaningful way.
Did Not Finish
June 12, 2026Oona the Berdoodle and her owner Zsuzsu investigate a celebrity murder. The story is told through various point-of-view characters across different timelines, forcing the reader to make gradual sense of the plot. Oona’s ability to travel between dimensions adds a complexity to the story, along with the appearance of strange, alien characters. The novel succeeds at creating a dystopian Philip K. Dick vibe combined with the zany narrative structure of Roger Zelazny’s “Doorways in the Sand” and the chaos of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. This makes for a truly unique and ambitious story exploring societal decay, belonging, climate change, and heritage and identity. I respect what Hairston achieved, but this was much darker than the synopsis and cover art led me to believe. I expected adorable Berdoodle antics and a cosy murder mystery, and this is not what this book delivers. Stylistically, while the narrative structure was highly effective in communicating the tone of a fragmented society, it bordered on stream of consciousness at times and was overly convoluted for my taste (this may say more about me than about this novel, though). This is a novel for those who enjoy innovative science fiction.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This book was honestly a fever dream both in having no direction to the flow and the absolute inability to understand what point any scene is for in the overall story. If it was purely a murder Who-Done-It it would have had some legs to walk on, but the interdimensional factor absolutely derailed any ability to truly want to read to the end other than through pure force and stubborness. The characters are diverse, but honestly every single one had the IQ of a middle schooler and the attitude of a teenager which made it so I could not care about a single one of them. Their back-stories were so vague and never actually participated to their stance in the story which made me feel like i was missing a previous book i should have read first. I felt like I was watching a group of half-baked NPC characters in a cheap RPG with their the dialogue. I was really excited to read it when I read the summary, but was very disappointed once done.
Review of advance copy received from Author
“The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays” is luminous, strange, tender, and so profoundly alive. What stayed with me most was the tenderness underneath all the brilliance. Andrea Hairston writes with such generosity toward her characters, especially the ones the world has discarded or failed to see. Again and again, they turn out to be the ones carrying wisdom, resilience, humor, and grace.
At the center of the story is Oona, a spirited Saint Berdoodle, chasing down danger and gathering friends along the way. Every scene with Oona flooded my heart. I laughed, cried, and felt that particular ache that comes from witnessing innocence and devotion moving through a wounded world.
Like all of Hairston’s books, this one refuses cynicism. Even in the midst of violence, loss, and injustice, the story pulses with hope — not naïve hope, but hard-won, defiant hope. I finished the book feeling deeply moved.
At the center of the story is Oona, a spirited Saint Berdoodle, chasing down danger and gathering friends along the way. Every scene with Oona flooded my heart. I laughed, cried, and felt that particular ache that comes from witnessing innocence and devotion moving through a wounded world.
Like all of Hairston’s books, this one refuses cynicism. Even in the midst of violence, loss, and injustice, the story pulses with hope — not naïve hope, but hard-won, defiant hope. I finished the book feeling deeply moved.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I really wanted this to work for me. The premise is wonderfully strange, the setting is vivid, and you can feel the creativity on every page. Unfortunately, after restarting the audiobook three times and reaching chapter 7, I still struggled to connect with the characters or settle into the narrative style.
For my taste, the story felt too fragmented and scattered, which made it difficult to stay emotionally invested or find momentum. I also went in hoping for more humour and stronger character chemistry, and that never quite clicked for me.
That said, I can absolutely see this working better for readers who enjoy highly experimental, atmospheric storytelling and immersive, unconventional worldbuilding. There’s clearly a lot of imagination here, even if it ultimately wasn’t the right fit for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance listening copy in exchange for an honest review.
For my taste, the story felt too fragmented and scattered, which made it difficult to stay emotionally invested or find momentum. I also went in hoping for more humour and stronger character chemistry, and that never quite clicked for me.
That said, I can absolutely see this working better for readers who enjoy highly experimental, atmospheric storytelling and immersive, unconventional worldbuilding. There’s clearly a lot of imagination here, even if it ultimately wasn’t the right fit for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance listening copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 30, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley for the Arc.
DNF at 15%.
I understand what Andrea was trying for here, and there are elements that independently work - but when put together create too much of a convoluted narrative for one to be meaningfully invested in. In something like This is How You Lose the Time War, it worked because the bonkers plot, constant shifts in time and space and lyrical writing, were grounded by the limited cast of, basically 2 characters.
So the reader didn’t feel too lost at the start, and even if they did, the constant conversational pull of the two central characters working as cause and consequence soon helped ground the narrative structure.
Here, there is just too much. Too much shifting, too many characters, or too much trying to be both explained and developed, with neither of those things happening fast enough to help the reader keep pace, and therefore interest. I may revisit in future, but not anytime soon.
DNF at 15%.
I understand what Andrea was trying for here, and there are elements that independently work - but when put together create too much of a convoluted narrative for one to be meaningfully invested in. In something like This is How You Lose the Time War, it worked because the bonkers plot, constant shifts in time and space and lyrical writing, were grounded by the limited cast of, basically 2 characters.
So the reader didn’t feel too lost at the start, and even if they did, the constant conversational pull of the two central characters working as cause and consequence soon helped ground the narrative structure.
Here, there is just too much. Too much shifting, too many characters, or too much trying to be both explained and developed, with neither of those things happening fast enough to help the reader keep pace, and therefore interest. I may revisit in future, but not anytime soon.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A mysterious dog, Oona, who travels between dimensions helps a diverse cast of characters solve a murder. Problem is Oona knows who the murderer is and the murderer knows that Oona knows.
I wanted to like this, I tried really hard to like this but I found myself putting it down and days would pass before I reluctantly picked it up again. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I DNF a book but I just couldn’t get into this one. It moves slowly, and not in a good way. It jumps back and forth in time and between characters who are never fully developed and frankly are not particularly believable. The mentions of differing cultures and folklore should have made the characters more interesting but just seemed disjointed. Honestly the only character I really liked was the dog. I am sure there is an audience out there for this but unfortunately it is not me.
I wanted to like this, I tried really hard to like this but I found myself putting it down and days would pass before I reluctantly picked it up again. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I DNF a book but I just couldn’t get into this one. It moves slowly, and not in a good way. It jumps back and forth in time and between characters who are never fully developed and frankly are not particularly believable. The mentions of differing cultures and folklore should have made the characters more interesting but just seemed disjointed. Honestly the only character I really liked was the dog. I am sure there is an audience out there for this but unfortunately it is not me.
Did Not Finish
June 6, 2026Quit at 32% - I’m not surprised the rating is low, this is one that is clearly having a difficult time finding its audience. I LOVED Hairston’s Archangels of Funk, which I call hopepunk climate-fiction with some multiverse thrown in, written with some characters who talk in poetry slam-esque speech. This one reminds me of it, except every single primary and many tertiary characters talk and think in a super fast, eccentric and witty voice that it’s hurting my head — it’s just non-stop — and it’s making everyone sound the same. I am curious about the murder mystery, the multiverse aspect, and what’s up with Redemption Center, and I love the dog character, but I’m calling it. These are my only two Hairstons, so far my guess is that Hairston really is an artist and maybe was just having a really good time with this one, like it’s experimental art. I still need to read Master of Poisons.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews