A uniquely imaginative YA debut laced with irony and optimism.
In Isom’s YA horror debut, a unique teen finds a dark book of poetry with a secret.
In Hays, Kansas, high school student Kali has no friends and wears a mask almost everywhere. She has to hide the tentacles sprouting from her upper lip, which have earned her the nickname Squid Face Girl. A bully named Brett invites her to a party to make amends, he claims, to everyone he’s tormented. At the party, however, the other teens push Kali into a closet with Stephen Coombs, hoping they’ll make out. When Stephen vomits on Kali, she runs from the party mortified. A few days later, after more bullying in school, she cries in an alley on the way home. She then notices a curio shop, run by an old blind man. He gives her a book called A Wretched Little Book of Poems. It’s full of short horror stories written in verse. At the end, Kali sees several blank pages. She adds her own story about persevering and falls asleep in tears. When she wakes up, she’s apparently entered the book, a violent realm filled with mist and monsters. Kali eventually meets Gary, a seemingly normal young man also looking to escape. Isom’s debut mixes fun and horror while showing teens how to turn their quirks to their advantage. Kali’s adventure unfolds via chapters that play like creature features. She and Gary, after escaping his nightmare of a murdered family, jump from poem to poem and battle zombies, a tentacled “Karen” monster, and a house full of cultists. They also make allies along the way, like the fortuneteller Madam Shirin, who warns them of “the man in the mask.” Some of the best advice Kali receives comes at the start of her adventure, from the blind merchant, who asks, “What kind of world would we be living in if people only did what was required of them and never any little bit more?” A clever, hopeful final scene leaves room for further scares.
A uniquely imaginative YA debut laced with irony and optimism.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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