This breezy supernatural yarn features an irresistible series hero and a timely message.
A teen who can speak with ghosts helps a spirit finish what she started a half-century ago in Herwig’s YA novella.
It’s the summer of 1960, and Army brat Vivien Brewer and her dad are hiking in the woods in Texas’ blistering heat. When she stumbles onto a grave marker, she anticipates a ghost, but she certainly isn’t looking forward to it; while Vivien’s inherited ability allows her to converse with and assist spirits, not every experience has been entirely positive. (“Another ghost. She didn’t want to know. Why couldn’t they leave her alone?”) Nevertheless, she researches the name on the marker. Florence Macartan joined a chess tournament in 1910, much to the chagrin of the other (exclusively male) contestants, and made it past the semi-final before inexplicably disappearing. When the late 15-year-old shows herself to Vivien, it’s clear she wants that final game against Wilbur Foxe, who was the most insistent about opposing a girl’s inclusion in the tournament. Vivien looks for Foxe’s descendants, unsure if Florence will play chess with one of Foxe’s living relatives or have an otherworldly game with his ghost. This is Herwig’s fourth installment in her series exploring mid-20th-century society’s expectations of women. In this outing, a school counselor suggests that Vivien doesn’t need a college education—just a husband, and the teenage protagonist sometimes feels helpless to make changes, as in the case of her neighbor, who’s a battered woman. Vivien is a resourceful girl facing such 1960s challenges as needing her strict father’s permission to use the family phone and having to scour newspaper archives by herself. She’s largely concerned with making sure the final game happens; as such, Vivien doesn’t delve too deeply into Florence’s death, though the mystery still unravels on its own.
This breezy supernatural yarn features an irresistible series hero and a timely message.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781964832098
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Babylon Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 haunting page-turner that smartly explores the complexities of teenage relationships and feelings of self-worth.
When police investigate a teenage girl’s supposed suicide, New Helvetia High’s most exclusive friend group comes under scrutiny.
The Thrashers are high school royalty. Zack Thrasher (the group’s namesake), Lucy Reed, Paige Montgomery, and Julian Hollister are wealthy and attractive. Jodi Dillon, who feels ordinary by comparison, has been friends with Zack since childhood. Not just anyone can become a Thrasher, but that was Emily Mills’ goal. After Emily is found dead the evening of prom, rumors circulate around school that she was Thrashed—socially ostracized—for trying to join the clique. Everything starts to unravel after investigators find Emily’s journal detailing how she was bullied by all of them—except Jodi, who rebuffed her. Jodi feels compelled to seek the truth surrounding Emily’s death without implicating her friends, but the more she learns, the more she doubts their credibility. The story’s careful, highly effective pacing contributes to the increasingly unsettling tension as strange and terrifying incidents occur. Readers who empathize with insecure Jodi are kept in suspense until the end, feeling relief whenever the others show genuine care for her while nervously anticipating the possibility that harm may befall her. Main characters largely present white. Lucy has brown skin, and Jodi is cued as white and Latine.
A haunting page-turner that smartly explores the complexities of teenage relationships and feelings of self-worth. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781250377173
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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