Not the refreshing plunge it would like to be.
While most people who visit the Dead River hear the white noise of rushing water, 17-year-old Kiandra Levesque hears the voices of people the river has claimed.
She’s been kept away from water ever since her mother committed suicide by walking into the Delaware River 10 years earlier. Angry at this abandonment, she wants to prove to herself that she has left her mother behind, so she sneaks away with her boyfriend for a camping and rafting trip in rural Maine. When she encounters the spirit of a boy killed in the 1930s, Kia learns that she has magical powers and that she might be able to see her mother again—but that she must cross the river from life to death to do so. Balog starts her story in media res, allowing narrator Kiandra to introduce herself slowly, by revealing her past. There’s a trick to keeping the narrator mostly unnamed and identified only by fears for the first several pages, and unfortunately, the author doesn’t quite carry it off. Despite her heavy and often articulated misery, Kiandra comes across as a shallow character: clear, fast-moving and trickling downstream before making an impact. The inevitable love triangle feels forced, and the resolution stretches the bounds of the narrative rules, but at least it assures there’s no loose threads for a sequel. The secondary characters are oxbow lakes, extraneous pieces cut off from the main flow and leading nowhere.
Not the refreshing plunge it would like to be. (Paranormal thriller. 12 & up)Pub Date: April 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-74158-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
A quietly compelling story.
Welcome to St. Hilaire, New York, a town that speaks to the dead.
Daniel “Dec” Hampton, still reeling from the deaths of his parents two years ago, feels suffocated by the rules and regulations set forth by the Guild, the authoritarian town council, and anxiously awaits the day he can leave. Russ Griffin, Dec’s best friend, struggles with his mother’s abandonment and desperately wants the coveted spot of Student Leader, a placement that will lead to a permanent Guild position after high school. Talented teen pianist Anastasia Krylova has recently lost her mentor, whose last request is that Annie find the missing portion of the Unfinished Prelude, a composition with an enigmatic history. When fate brings Annie to Dec’s door, the lives of all three teens are upended in unexpected and mysterious ways. How is Annie connected to Tristan, the ghost who occupies Dec’s home—and how is Tristan linked to the Prelude? Will Dec leave St. Hilaire, or will he be trapped here forever? Can Russ pass muster as a medium to gain his place with the Guild? Dec, Russ, and Annie share the first-person narration; each has a distinct voice. Dec’s is angry while Russ’ is brooding and Annie’s is grief-stricken; the story may resonate with readers who have experienced loss. The setting is inspired by Lily Dale, the spiritualist community in upstate New York. All characters are assumed white.
A quietly compelling story. (Paranormal mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6737-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A mild but satisfying blend of folk and psychological horror.
A young woman reckons with the consequences of being an outcast and the risks of defining her own truth.
Stuck in the dead-end Appalachian town of Winston, Pennsylvania, 17-year-old Leah has few plans and little hope for her future. Having to watch over Owen, the baby brother everyone fawns over, only fuels her frustration. When Owen goes missing from his crib while under her watch, Leah is forced to confront the dangers of the nearby woods. She takes responsibility for what happened, repeating self-recriminations that at times slow the pace, and enters the home of the mysterious Lord of the Wood, a feared otherworldly entity responsible for generations of missing children. Despite her lifetime of indoctrination with town lore warning against the perils of anything to do with the Lord, Leah proposes a bargain in exchange for Owen’s safe return—but failure would come at a steep price. The more time Leah spends away from home, the more she’s drawn to all she was raised to fear as she aims to redress the wrongs of Winston’s lost kids in a slow-burn, supernatural interrogation of what it means to be a “good girl.” Bovalino explores how young women attempt to balance social pressures and desire, and the result delivers slightly more suspense than terror. Leah reads white; there are brown-skinned supporting characters.
A mild but satisfying blend of folk and psychological horror. (content warnings) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781645679301
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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