Extreme gore and exciting suspense in a highly strange package.
The story of a bizarre cult morphs into a horror novel in this sequel to The Violet Hour (2014).
Harlow should have become the Matriarch of VisionCrest, the new worldwide religion founded by her father, but Isiris, the evil goddess the cult worships, has trapped her in a temple in Cambodia. Somehow Harlow must find the single door among thousands that will allow her to escape from the labyrinthine temple. Meanwhile, through the eyes of Isiris, she sees the murders the goddess commits, having taken her place in the outside world. Masquerading as Harlow, Isiris kills thousands of innocents in horrific ways, effectively destroying civilization as we know it. Once outside the temple, Harlow meets Parker, a girl who joins with her to find Hayes, now the leader of the faltering Resistance. The pair travels across China and Russia, avoiding the death-dealing Watchers who enforce the wishes of the goddess. Miller alternates chapters between Harlow’s time trapped in the temple and what happens after she escapes, a device that disrupts the flow of the narrative. This novel is full-on horror, the gruesome murders so horrific they might make Stephen King blush. The story concludes with a hint of parallel worlds, leaving readers to wonder if there may be yet a third novel to come.
Extreme gore and exciting suspense in a highly strange package. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: March 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7387-4204-5
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
An affecting supernatural mystery with a pair of brave protagonists.
The disappearance of a child unveils what lies hiding in the woods at the edge of a small town.
There are all sorts of stories about Picnic, Illinois, but it’s not until her toddler cousin, Madison, goes missing from her crib one night that 15-year-old Luce starts to believe them—and especially when she notices a pair of glowing, wolflike eyes through the windows of her house. To everybody’s relief, Madison is returned to her crib, seemingly safe and sound, soon after she vanished, but Luce and the child’s mother notice discomfiting differences in the 2-year-old. And yet, no one else seems to give credence to their concerns. Luce, prompted by a teacher, starts to research Picnic’s history and the many disappearances—and sudden reappearances—of baby girls, going back decades. Meanwhile, deep in the woods, Fanya, who narrates alternating chapters, tends to the baby girl and prepares for the ritual to welcome her as part of her pack when the full moon comes. As Luce’s and Fanya’s stories converge, so do past and present in Lund’s atmospheric novel. The story borrows elements from South Slavic lore about women who turn into animals to tell an affecting tale about small-town secrets, wronged people, and the bravery of two girls bent on getting to the truth in order to save lives. All characters are assumed White.
An affecting supernatural mystery with a pair of brave protagonists. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35109-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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