Despite an intriguing premise, thrills fizzle against a convoluted plot.
Teens become embroiled in a murder investigation when their science teacher’s body is discovered at the camp they all attended.
Two summers ago, Darby Wallis and her ex-boyfriend, Morgan Rhodell, broke up after Morgan betrayed her. In the aftermath, their friend group drifted apart. But everything else about that summer is a blank, including all of them having been counselors at Camp Choctawhatchee under the supervision of their former science teacher, who mysteriously disappeared. When his body turns up in the present, the teens enter a nightmare of accusations, interrogations, and blackmail. To clear their names, they must recover their memories, but whom can they trust when seemingly everyone in their picturesque Florida town is keeping secrets? In alternating first-person chapters interspersed with police transcripts, Darby and Morgan reflect on family and each other as they investigate—and try to stay alive. Darby’s desire to rebel against her good-girl image and perfectionist parents inspires sympathy, as does Morgan’s grief over his mother’s death. Unfortunately, a somewhat overstuffed plot risks desensitizing readers to its thrills. One twist requires considerable suspension of disbelief, and a revelation comes too late to have much impact. Most secondary characters are underdeveloped save for a troubled boy with ADHD; even Darby’s best friend, who’s cued as having some Japanese ancestry, is seldom portrayed as more than a supportive sidekick. Darby and Morgan default to White.
Despite an intriguing premise, thrills fizzle against a convoluted plot. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7852-3621-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist.
The mother Annabel Price thought was dead returns with a story about where she’s been—but 18-year-old Bel knows she’s lying.
Ever since Rachel Price’s unexplained disappearance 16 years ago, true-crime fans have come up with plentiful theories about what happened. Bel and her family members, who are white, cobbled together lives for themselves after a jury found Bel’s father, Charlie, not guilty of murdering his wife. Beset with medical bills for his elderly father, Charlie recently agreed to participate in a documentary about the unsolved mystery. Black British filmmaker Ramsey Lee is well into the process of interviewing the Prices when his project gets an unanticipated boost after an exhausted, disheveled Rachel staggers back into town. Rachel is eager to resume her role in the family, but the inconsistencies in her accounts raise alarms for Bel. With the help of the youngest member of the filmmaking team, Bel sets out to learn what really happened. Along the way, someone else disappears, and Bel uncovers a tangle of lies that make it impossible for her to trust people she thought she knew. When things come to a head the night of her grandfather’s 85th birthday party, Bel ends up in a race for her life. The last quarter of the novel tears along at a breakneck pace before arriving at a satisfying and unexpected conclusion.
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593374207
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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