An engaging drama with an appealing protagonist.
Patt presents a twist on the enduring real-life mystery surrounding suspected murderer Lizzie Borden in this historical YA novel.
It’s 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, where 16-year-old Victoria Robbins cares for her gravely ill mother with the help of Irish domestic worker Penelope; meanwhile, her absent father spends weeks on the family’s distant farm. The teenager finds solace and companionship with her 33-year-old neighbor and former Sunday school teacher, Lizzie Borden. When Lizzie’s father and stepmother are violently murdered and Lizzie arrested for the crimes, Victoria decides to use the principles of evidence and detection found in her beloved Sherlock Holmes stories to try to exonerate her friend. During her investigations, however, the teen discovers some unsettling similarities between herself and the accused murderer. For example, despite their middle-class backgrounds, both women are driven almost irresistibly to commit acts of petty thievery. In a Victorian world where one form of immorality is believed to lead inevitably to others, the girl can’t help but wonder if she’s capable of murder—or if her belief in Lizzie’s innocence stems from some darker link between them: “What if they really were alike in good ways—and bad?” she asks herself. The novel does a solid job with its late-19th-century New England setting, where class prejudices and bigotry toward Irish Catholics are rampant. Later, for instance, when Victoria finds an unlikely ally in young Irish police detective apprentice Declan Dempsey, she’s torn between her growing attraction to him and her father’s angry insistence that pursuing a relationship with him would bring disgrace upon her family. Meanwhile, she struggles to find evidence that could prevent Lizzie from going to the gallows, and to retain her own faith in her innocence. As the story reaches its dramatic conclusion, readers will be rooting for her to do both.
An engaging drama with an appealing protagonist.Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9781958109380
Page Count: 332
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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