R. Brian Howe

3.5 stars

This takes place in an older mall that’s a bit run-down and is losing customers. It is set during 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 hits and it starts before masks, then vaccines, then vaccine passports. The main POV is Michael, the mall manager. Michael is concerned about losing more business, depending what decisions he makes concerning the mall on all of those COVID issues. He is dealing with business owners with a variety of opinions; mall walkers, who (at least the ones we follow show more in the book) mostly want the additional protections; and anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers, led by Marv, who believe the conspiracy theories and hold a number of rallies and marches held outside the mall. Michael is also dealing with his snooty wife who only wants Michael to make the decisions that will get him a promotion.

Amidst all this, a man is murdered at the start of the book and has a mask stuffed into his mouth. And there are a series of threatening notes left on a mall bulletin board; the threats are against bringing in mandatory masking, then vaccine passports. The threats have a very real consequence stated.

There were a few very one-dimensional characters in this book, the worst being Marv and Cornelia (Michael’s wife). Much of the book was tied up with a nice ribbon at the end, but not all of it. There were a few completely loose ends. I’m still rating it “good”, as I did like the story. But some of those characters…! Of course, those characters certainly got me riled up, but it may also because the entire thing is not very far behind us, and there are many of those conspiracy theories still around. I do wonder about someone picking up the book in the far future, who wouldn’t have the context of having gone through COVID – I don’t feel like there was much discussion about the actual repercussions of COVID (at least until the very end of the book), so I feel like part of the context might be missing. show less

Thanks Somewhat Grumpy Press Inc. and LibraryThing for the gifted Early Reviewers ARC book.

The Mall Walkers immerses the reader back in the height of the pandemic before wide-spread vaccine use. There’s a slow build of tension within the enclosed space of the mall setting. Various opinions on masking and vaccine use and the repercussions of decisions for and against both are explored. Questions arise for both characters and the reader regarding public health versus business/personal show more interests, what has greater importance, and social pressures. The story unfolds primarily through dialogue of the mall staff and patrons. It feels almost impossible for this book not to be engaging – we all experienced this pandemic. Unfortunately, not all of the plot lines were resolved and some characters fell into stereotypes that weren’t essential to executing the story. Nonetheless, this was an interesting read and one that I could see fostering great discussions for the right book club. show less

This story takes place from June 2020 to August 2021, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health measures to address it. The main characters are the manager of a shopping mall in Idaho, various business owners at the mall, and a few mall regulars, the mall walkers. There’s also a prominent anti-vaxxer and COVID conspiracy theorist who organizes protests at the mall against masking requirements, vaccines, and vaccine passports.

The initial exposition is clumsy and show more awkward, classic telling instead of showing. We’re given a brief paragraph or two that fills us in on most characters’ life history. Overall, this book reads like an attempt to add “human interest” to a case study of public health issues by tossing in some two-dimensional characters into a narrative illustrating the issues.

There’s some added drama in the form of a murder, which is never solved; some phone calls to the mall manager threatening his family, which are also never explicitly solved; and some letters threatening an acid attack, which eventually takes place and is solved. I’m perplexed why no one ever thinks to call the police about the threats, other than the mall manager, who decides not to because it would be bad for mall business. There are several other plot threads that lack adequate resolution, including an explanation for the mall head of security’s suspicious behavior. I’m also frustrated that a lot of what could be interesting social relationships, like the mall manager’s marriage, seem to be tossed in as complicating factors or for social verisimilitude, but simply languish without resolution or are resolved in a sentence or two at the end.

Two stars for the attempt to address public health issues, but no more than that for not telling us anything we didn’t get from the newspapers at that time. show less

This book addressed the Covid pandemic from an unusual perspective, that of a business owner dealing with closures, masking, politicization of health measures, and to top it all off, a murderer. Unfortunately, the murderer was fairly obvious and the characters were drawn very black and white, with little real consideration of the difficulties balancing the concerns of the mall patrons and business owners about pandemic measures. The author's background in human rights didn't really provide show more much insight either. show less