Standard YA fare with a hooky if credulity-straining premise.
Two long-distance pen pals find they have more in common than they thought when they discover a family secret in Zhang’s YA novel.
Sophie is a high school girl still reeling from the loss of her older sister, Mackenzie. She’s avoided going to parties with her best friend, Lyla, for months, preferring to spend her time locked away in her room reading romance novels or texting her pen pal, Anya, who lives in Shanghai. But Anya hasn’t responded in almost a week, and Sophie is beginning to worry. Anya is going through a difficult time, too; her older sister, Camelia, has gone missing, she’s doing poorly in most of her classes, and now she bears the full weight of her mother’s stifling expectations. After Camelia sends a letter with an address on it, Anya starts skipping classes to search downtown Shanghai for her. Her parents have scheduled every second of Anya’s downtime with extracurricular activities they think will look good on her college application (“There wasn’t one day when she had free time after school”)—however, Anya’s determination eventually results in a lead to her sister’s possible whereabouts. Sophie has a mystery of her own to solve: Her parents have been acting suspiciously ever since Mackenzie’s death. Her world is turned upside down when she overhears them discussing Mackenzie’s true fate—which may be related to Camelia’s. This is an engaging read full of twists and turns set against the backdrop of a family drama. While the sheer number of coincidences can be hard to believe, the friendship between Sophie and Anya is well written and feels fleshed out. The sets of parents (aside from Anya’s overbearing mother) aren’t differentiated enough to set up a compelling contrast. The pacing is serviceable in moving the story along—the narrative works best when setting up cliffhangers and alternating the dual perspectives of Sophie and Anya.
Standard YA fare with a hooky if credulity-straining premise.Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9798218588274
Page Count: 258
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements.
A wary teen wonders if she should run when people come looking for her.
Lucy Smith was raised by her white father, who said little about her mother. Following his death and her stepmother’s abandonment, Lucy entered the foster care system at 14. Her stepmother revealed that Lucy’s birth mom was Native American, but her social worker urged her to keep that quiet. Battered by her time in the foster care system, it’s no wonder that 18-year-old Lucy is cautious when she’s approached by a man who says he’s an attorney who helps Native American foster kids connect with their families and communities. He introduces her to a friend who reveals to Lucy that she knows her Ojibwe maternal relatives—but a wary Lucy refuses her offer to learn more. Someone is stalking her, after all, and the FBI is investigating the bomb that went off in the diner where she worked—an event she’s sure targeted her. This stand-alone from bestseller Boulley, who’s an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, includes characters her fans will recognize from previous works. The action scenes are mediated by ruminations on the failings of the foster care system and strong portrayals of Lucy’s relationship with her father and her complicated identity. Ardent book lover Lucy is a sympathetic narrator whose strong sense of justice is coupled with a deep acceptance of others.
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements. (content warning, author’s note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328533
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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