Twisted, enthralling dark academia.
An outsider at an elite prep school discovers a powerful secret society.
A prologue sets up an outrageous situation for the narrator—being party to the kidnapping of the daughter of the vice president—before jumping back six months to the beginning of the school year to explain how he ended up in such a predicament. Cal, a sophomore transfer student on scholarship from Mississippi, is isolated at Connecticut’s posh Essex Academy. It’s supposed to be his fresh start after The Incident (among other troubles back home). When Cal chances upon a mysterious party, he learns of a Skull and Bones–like secret society that’s dedicated to exploring the school’s sprawling, storied campus and unearthing its secrets. Cal passionately tears through puzzles and challenges, desperate to earn a place in such powerful company. Alongside exciting urban exploration, Cal falls hard for Luke, a charismatic, troubled Korean American artist who’s also rushing the Society of Seven Eyes. Their ensuing romance is both sweet and spicy. The audacious conspiracy plot is grounded by the powerful emotionality of two flawed, conflicted boys in love. The more Cal sees suspicious, dangerous patterns in the Society’s activities over the decades, the greater the stakes. The book’s content is heavy—among other disturbing themes, classism and regionalism flavor the school, and Cal has experienced extreme homophobia that’s left him with a disability. The school and Society are racially diverse; Cal reads white. The wild climax leads to a bittersweet denouement.
Twisted, enthralling dark academia. (Romantic thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781339009933
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series.
Eighteen-year-old sleuth Stevie Bell is back to investigate another mystery in this stand-alone addition to the Truly Devious series.
Stevie is nursing a broken heart following her recent split from boyfriend David. Fed up with her parents’ lack of understanding and support—they regard her interest in solving murders as “creepy” and “weird”—she announces that she’s not coming home for Christmas. But now she’s at a loose end; spending winter break “alone on murder mountain” at Ellingham Academy, her Vermont boarding school, doesn’t seem ideal. So when the opportunity arises to accompany her close friend Nate to New York City, she willingly agrees. The third-person chapters switch between Stevie’s contemporary experience among a group of eccentric, often-clashing residents of a Manhattan apartment building and a young woman named Blue who becomes entangled in a cult in the 1970s. A trail of clues is laid that Stevie can’t resist following. Readers will be kept guessing how the intertwining storylines fit together until the very end. The novel expands to explore Stevie’s relationships and growth, including her ongoing management of her anxiety disorder. The marvelously clever dialogue, abundance of heart, and witty, memorable, and well-rounded cast elevate this beyond standard mystery fare. Both timelines establish the New York City setting as its own character. Stevie and Blue read white.
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series. (map) (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063256019
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
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