Offers a strong sense of place but is lacking in heart.
Returning to Chicago after the 1893 World’s Fair, this stand-alone companion to The City Beautiful (2021) follows Frankie Portnoy as he navigates the city’s criminal underworld and his relationship with Alter Rosen.
Frankie and Alter have turned over a new leaf: Giving up thieving, they’ve gone into business as private detectives. One day they stumble across a rich man’s missing cat, but when the owner offers them much less than the $10 promised reward, Frankie steals a bowl on display in his home. When he breaks it, a shard gets lodged in his palm. Soon after, Frankie falls deep into self-loathing, finding it impossible to give Alter the love he deserves—and then people around him start dying in horrific ways. Frankie isn’t sure if he’s responsible for these crimes, or if he’s possessed by a dybbuk like the one that once haunted Alter. When an old friend and employee of Frankie’s goes missing, Frankie searches for him, meeting unsavory characters and often ending up fighting for his life. This gothic fantasy steeped in Jewish folklore is a slow-paced, horror-filled bloodbath with a narrator readers may find it difficult to spend time with. While Frankie’s character is fully realized, and the worldbuilding is impeccably detailed, Frankie’s cold point of view is a drastic departure from Alter’s hopeful, passionate narrative, and the story feels in need of a more substantial anchor.
Offers a strong sense of place but is lacking in heart. (content warning, author’s note) (Historical fantasy. 15-18)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781335013910
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
Only marginally intriguing.
In a remote part of Utah, in a “temple of excellence,” the best of the best are recruited to nurture their talents.
Redemption Preparatory is a cross between the Vatican and a top-secret research facility: The school is rooted in Christian ideology (but very few students are Christian), Mass is compulsory, cameras capture everything, and “maintenance” workers carry Tasers. When talented poet Emma disappears, three students, distrusting of the school administration, launch their own investigation. Brilliant chemist Neesha believes Emma has run away to avoid taking the heat for the duo’s illegal drug enterprise. Her boyfriend, an athlete called Aiden, naturally wants to find her. Evan, a chess prodigy who relies on patterns and has difficulty processing social signals, believes he knows Emma better than anyone. While the school is an insidious character on its own and the big reveal is slightly psychologically disturbing, Evan’s positioning as a tragic hero with an uncertain fate—which is connected to his stalking of Emma (even before her disappearance)—is far more unsettling. The ’90s setting provides the backdrop for tongue-in-cheek technological references but doesn’t do anything for the plot. Student testimonials and voice-to-text transcripts punctuate the three-way third-person narration that alternates among Neesha, Evan, and Aiden. Emma, Aiden, and Evan are assumed to be white; Neesha is Indian. Students are from all over the world, including Asia and the Middle East.
Only marginally intriguing. (Mystery. 15-18)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-266203-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gruesomely violent with a disheartening take on the future.
A troubled teen in a zombie-infested landscape finds energy and purpose in killing.
Sixteen-year-old Quinn Wallace, surrendered by her adoptive parents at age 6 after just four years with them, is marking the time until she turns 18 and can leave the Pegasus Center, a residential treatment facility in Peoria, Illinois. She cynically chases the compliance points given for good behavior. Manipulative and in love with control, Quinn, who has ADHD (and, possibly, antisocial personality disorder), experiences “emotions differently than most people” and has had to learn to interpret others’ emotions; she gleans information about her fellow residents by secretly reading their charts. Reports of riots in Chicago feel remote until one day the chaos reaches their locked ward: A custodian reanimates following a violent death—she’s a carrier, someone infected with a “new and terrifying virus.” Quinn, 17-year-old Keisha, and a ragtag band from Pegasus flee the facility and head south. People underestimate petite, blond, pale-skinned, and sweet-faced Quinn, who’s protective of her Black-presenting crush, Keisha, who taught her how to turn on the charm and play people. First-person narrator Quinn feels “the warmth of excitement” when she kills. Many of her victims are one-note secondary characters whom she views as disposable. Salazar’s series opener, which was originally self-published in 2024 as The Dead Weight, explores mental health issues and neurodivergence in ways that unfortunately feel one-dimensional and offers little redemption for its protagonist.
Gruesomely violent with a disheartening take on the future. (Horror. 15-18)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464299292
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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