In this mystery adventure, four star students struggle to save the world when their slightly eccentric teacher vanishes, leaving cryptic messages behind; they have only their ingenuity and expertise to solve the puzzles. Fifteen-year-old Amber relates the unfolding drama as she is joined by her friends: fashionista Lisa, techno-whiz Trendon and imperturbable Joseph. Apparently Ms. Holcomb knew she was heading for what appears to be a possible kidnapping, but she is less concerned with being rescued than she is with the safety of a powerful artifact—the Tebah Stick—connected to the original Ark of the Bible. Heavy with Indiana Jones overtones, the relic is both hugely powerful and sought by evildoers who want to use the power of the Tebah Stick to rule the world. Chance and knowledge combine to help the kids work out the clues as danger increases. Astute readers will find the clues a mixture of the opaque and the easy, but this is not realistic fiction, and the complications and daring escapades take it a big step beyond Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys in excitement. The dire consequences of failing are so exaggerated that solving the puzzles may not be much fun for readers, but those who favor a little fantasy element in their mystery will enjoy the ride. (Adventure. 11-15)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59955-448-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bonneville Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
Despite its potential, though, it’s likely that the book will have limited appeal.
Goelman’s debut novel, part summer-camp tale, part ghost story and part murder mystery, is served with a sprinkling of math and a heavy dose of often-confusing Jewish orthodoxy.
Thirteen-year-old math and magic geek Dahlia reluctantly agrees to three weeks at a Jewish summer camp. There, the ghosts of two little girls visit her, and she begins to dream of David Schank, a young yeshiva student in New York in the 1930s. Soon, she realizes his spirit has possessed her; he is an ibur who needs her help to complete a task he began when alive. The novel alternates between David’s story, in which he first discovers and then fails to hide from the Illuminated Ones the 72nd name of God, and Dahlia’s, as she attempts to figure out what the ghosts and the spirit want and why the creepy caretaker won’t let any children into the camp’s overgrown hedge maze. A substantial cast of characters, multiple plot twists in both narrative storylines, some subplots that go nowhere, a golem, gematria or Jewish numerology, the cabala and more make this novel a challenging read. It’s certainly a refreshing change from the usual focus in middle-grade Jewish fiction on the Holocaust, immigrants and bar/bat mitzvahs, and the inclusion of a girl protagonist who loves math is also welcome.
Despite its potential, though, it’s likely that the book will have limited appeal. (Paranormal mystery. 12-15)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-47430-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Uneven but forgivable given how fast, easy and freaky it is.
When intrepid teen reporter Tom Harding wakes in a fog- and monster-filled nightmare version of his Southern California town, his only ways out are truth or death.
Through the central story of Tom’s waking in the warped version of his town and flashback interludes of the weeks immediately preceding the primary narrative, Klavan (If We Survive, 2013, etc.) allows readers to piece together a spiritual mystery concerning what has happened in the time between the stories. In the interludes, Tom exposes his school’s beloved championship football team’s steroid use, gaining him both enemies and the admiration of his childhood crush. In the immediate narrative, Tom must discover what’s happening before monsters kill him. The few other characters present adamantly give him conflicting advice—from the grave, in one case—through foreshadowed plot twists and betrayals. Fans of survival-horror video games will recognize story structures and motifs (cellphones, televisions and radios turning from innocuous to frightening); these techniques transfer well to the written medium. A memory-loss device is most effective in its first use but becomes tedious. The biggest weakness, however, comes in flat characters and virtuous Tom’s weak emotional arc. Luckily, the creepy atmosphere ebbs and flows, keeping a good rhythm up until the very end—a tidy, if slightly campy wrap-up.
Uneven but forgivable given how fast, easy and freaky it is. (Survival horror. 11-15)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59554-797-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
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