Seductive if somewhat overdone.
There’s something in the ocean, and it wants blood.
Briar Winters has been haunted all her life—by the drowning death of her twin brother when they were six and by a voice in her head that says she’ll one day join him. It’s almost the end of summer, and soon Briar’s three closest friends—Kai Baisho, Astrid Hoffman, and Finn Adler—will disperse to various colleges, leaving her behind in their hometown of Loch Creek, Massachusetts, where tragedies seem to strike repeatedly. Finn is logical and math-oriented, but he’s nevertheless been researching occult matters that just happen to involve both quantum physics and Loch Creek’s strange happenings. He and Briar are friends, found family, and maybe more? But the day after the summer carnival, Finn vanishes—and only Briar, Kai, and Astrid remember that he ever existed. As Briar’s 19th birthday party approaches, odd events in town, rumors of witches, and her own seemingly pending demise won’t stop her from finding Finn and bringing him back home. Debut author Elizabeth’s narrative is littered with moody purple prose that establishes the melodramatic atmosphere, perhaps inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe poem “The City in the Sea” that’s quoted at the beginning of each of the book’s six sections. The lead-up to the climax will enthrall readers who are willing to wade through a few confusing detours along the way. The leads present white, and both are bisexual.
Seductive if somewhat overdone. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780823459384
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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 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
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