A heartfelt, intricate examination of what underlies human behavior.
The day after a summer festival, two teenagers find the body of a schoolmate by the side of a road.
The fictional college town of Goldsburg is the setting for this compelling novel based on a true story from the author’s own hometown in Virginia. Goldsburg’s annual Deadwood Days weekend is what keeps the local kids from total boredom. The shocking events of the summer of 1979 are narrated by a cast of white teenagers (all with epithets) who had all seen Christopher the night before he was murdered: Doc “The Sleepwalker” Chestnut, Squib “The Genius” Kaplan, Hunger “The Good Ol’ Boy” McCoy, Hazel “The Farm Girl” Turner, and Mildred “The Stamp Collector” Penny. As a means to help the students work through their grief, they’ve been assigned to write memorial poems. The novel is cleverly constructed in their rotating prose and verse accounts starting four weeks after Deadwood Days and working backward. Set amid these narratives is the voice of the 15-year-old killer, Leonard “The Runaway” Pelf. The six teens have distinct personalities—Squib is pragmatic and cautious (and has Tourette’s syndrome), for instance, and Hunger dabbles in taxidermy—and perspectives. Some hardly knew one another before the summer; some have close friendships tested. All of them feel some responsibility for the circumstances that led to that night’s events. Within the confines of the assignment, they move nearly imperceptibly toward a greater understanding of themselves and each other.
A heartfelt, intricate examination of what underlies human behavior. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5613-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Phantom of the Opera served as inspiration, but this wouldn’t last on Broadway.
Stephanie and her family move into an old mansion rumored to have been put under a curse after a turn-of-the-20th-century rich boy meddled with an Egyptian mummy.
After her young sister complains about strange events, high school student Stephanie befriends Lucas, a geeky, good-looking boy, and meets the other members of SPOoKy, the Scientific Paranormal Organization of Kentucky: Charlotte, Wes, and Patrick. Stephanie learns the history of her new home from Lucas, who attracts her romantic attention, but the usually levelheaded girl is soon drawn to Erik, the handsome phantom who first comes to her in dreams. The story is told in chapters narrated by Stephanie, Lucas, and Zedok, whose identity is initially a source of confusion to Stephanie. Zedok appears wearing different masks, “personified slivers” of his soul, representing states of mind such as Wrath, Madness, and Valor. Meanwhile, until gifted singer Stephanie came along and he could write songs for her, Erik’s dreams were thwarted; he wanted to be a composer but his family expected him to become a doctor. In the gothic horror tradition, Erik’s full background and connection with Zedok are slowly revealed. Romantic dream sequences are lush and swoon-y, but the long, drawn-out battle to end the curse, aided by a celebrity clairvoyant, is tedious, and the constant introduction of Erik’s different personae is confusing. Most characters default to White; Patrick is Black.
The Phantom of the Opera served as inspiration, but this wouldn’t last on Broadway. (Horror. 13-16)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11604-3
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
Chilling and suspenseful, with just the right number of twists.
If your friend’s dead body falls in the woods and nobody is around to see which of you pulled the trigger, what will your story be?
In an after-party haze of booze and drugs, five white, wealthy best friends go hunting in the River Point woods—only four return. With one of the boys, Grant, shot dead in an apparent accident and no one willing to admit responsibility, Logan, Henry, John Michael, and Shep vow to keep silent in order to protect their remaining group and the killer among them. But secrets have a way of burrowing through bonds, and the tightknit foursome, dubbed the River Point Boys, has already started to unravel. Meanwhile, budding photojournalist and white senior Kate Marino is interning at the district attorney’s office, where her boss is assigned the River Point case. The DA wants the case to disappear quietly, but Kate is determined see justice done. As she assists with examining the boys’ behavior during interrogations and in person, she discovers that nothing about the case, the suspects, or even her own connection to the boys is what it seems. The narration alternates between Kate’s fervent suspicions and a River Point Boy’s cold manipulation, leaving readers to wade through the many vengeful motives that spill from a wellspring of affluence, privilege, and corruption.
Chilling and suspenseful, with just the right number of twists. (Mystery. 13-17)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-3089-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
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