An initially promising horror tale that unfortunately lacks suspense until nearly its end.
In Johnson’s debut thriller, a 13-year-old boy and his next-door neighbor investigate an evil house.
In the summer of 1996, young Derek Hall has just moved to Tanner’s Ridge, N.C., with his divorced mother, Elaine. He’s instantly intrigued by his pretty neighbor, 13-year-old Alex Kramer, but after he befriends her, he feels the wrath of her jealous boyfriend, Tony Warner, who torments him at school. As a result, Alex breaks up with Tony, which only fuels his fury, and she and Derek become girlfriend and boyfriend. The two explore the House on Dead Boy Lane, a creepy local structure with a history of violence. Numerous people have died or disappeared within its walls, yet they and other local teens, including Alex’s friend Valerie; Valerie’s boyfriend, Dan; and Derek’s best friend, Chucky Wilson, can’t resist its pull. Alex cuts herself during a visit to the house, leaving traces of blood behind, and she’s soon beset by increasingly bizarre nightmares—as if the house is reaching out to her. The book begins well, chronicling the house’s history and spotlighting the curious subbasement where a young boy was once butchered; unfortunately, the prologue spoils what might have later been an effective reveal. Derek’s mom adequately fills the role of clueless parent, and other characters are entertaining, such as a quirky bus driver who claims to make beef jerky using “the meat of kids” he’s run over. However, despite several unsettling events involving his girlfriend, Derek goes on about his life, watching scary flicks, listening to cool music and playing video games, when he should be more frightened. The story pulses with suspense in the last few pages, but readers may find the final resolution disturbing and depressing. The book’s excessive references to works by horror masters such as Stephen King and filmmaker John Carpenter also detract from the pacing and overall tone.
An initially promising horror tale that unfortunately lacks suspense until nearly its end.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-1491834183
Page Count: 490
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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