Safe Return Doubtful

American / Slovak Fiction – Published 2026

Generally I don’t like books that are single sentences, but this is an exception. It’s easier to see the logic behind why Krivak does it.

On New Year’s Day in 1929, 13 year old Ondro Prach, of Slovak descent, starts a new job in the Pennsylvania coal mine where his late father worked. He has worked in the mine since he was 8, progressing ‘up the ladder’.. Ondro is in charge of the mule that pulls wagons filled with coal through the mine. On his first day, an anccident occurs, from which Ondro makes an incredible escape, but it has a devastating effect on the rest of his life as he tries to understand how he managed to survive.

Krivak is a poet, which doesn’t come as a surprise after reading just a few pages of his deep and moving prose. He manages not just to avoid the ‘full stop’, but almost any punctuation at all.
The themes of the book are fate and chance and they are examined with a guileful and exhilarating energy.

It’s one of those books for which the potential reader should not look too deeply at reviews, as several do spoil it.

My GoodReads score 5 / 5