An engrossing page-turner that bites off a bit more than it can chew.
A lonely teen is the only suspect in his mother's murder.
Thomas Bellweather's mother was happily remarried for just 10 days before she was found dead in her bed. Now Tom is stuck in a town he barely knows with an awkward stepdad, a cop, and a police force breathing down his neck. At his mother's funeral he is befriended by Charlotte Rooker, a girl with a dad and three brothers that all happen to be cops. Charlotte believes in Tom's innocence, but a series of misadventures puts Tom in deeper and deeper trouble. Kemmerer spends the first two-thirds of the novel perfectly painting a small town with big fears. The author also sprinkles in just the right amount of teen lust and whodunit misdirects. The book’s problems start when the narrative shifts gears into paranormal hokum, a disappointment when the author was building up such a great head of steam. Kemmerer is able to stick the landing, but only barely. A lot of exposition is thrown in at the last minute to make everything click into place, and the author's hands are felt far more than in the first two acts, which are effortless by comparison. The novel leaves a few small things unanswered, and a return to this world would not be unwelcome, particularly now that all the heavy lifting regarding empaths and Tom's shadowy father is out of the way.
An engrossing page-turner that bites off a bit more than it can chew. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7582-9441-8
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A gripping tribute to resilience.
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.
A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.
A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781728270111
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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