Captures a time as well as a place: intelligent and thought-provoking.
A literary take on film noir during Hollywood’s golden age.
It’s 1946. While young men were off to war, 17-year-old Clara Berg landed a job as vault runner at major filmmaker Silver Pacific studios. After spending a year taking film reels to and from the locked, fireproof archive, Clara, who loves the film industry, has landed a promotion to apprentice editor. While tidying up after a plan to meet for drinks with her screenwriter and war veteran friend, Gil, falls through, she finds Barbara Bannon, controversial star of the current production, dead in the vault. The next day she learns that it was actually Barbara’s stand-in, Connie Milligan, who was killed. The police believe Bannon was the intended target, but Clara feels otherwise, especially as she begins to remember disturbing fragments from her own childhood in Nazi Germany. Ross’ novel brings working life on a movie set vividly to life. Clara’s investigations rely a bit too much on coincidence, and the final peril ends with a fizzle, but overall, the mystery keeps readers guessing. Side plots involve antisemitism in America and Germany, American isolationism, the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, and Leni Riefenstahl (a woman known as Hitler’s girlfriend and filmmaker who really did travel to California in 1938 in an unsuccessful attempt to sell her works to the American market). All named characters are White.
Captures a time as well as a place: intelligent and thought-provoking. (author's note, glossary, filmography) (Historical mystery. 12-18)Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-385-74148-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A lukewarm thriller.
In England, a group of teenagers tries to stay alive when a long weekend in an abandoned castle goes wrong.
When Bessie and her friends decide to join a party their classmate Allegra is throwing in her family’s abandoned castle before it’s converted into apartments, they think the biggest issues they’ll face are making it there before a big storm hits and keeping their plans secret from their parents and teachers. Once they arrive at the castle, however, Bessie and best friend Kashvi discover menacing graffiti and evidence that someone has been staying in the cellar. They also learn that protestors from the nearby village are angry about the development plans for the castle—one of them even argues that it would be better to burn it down. A handful of classmates manage to get there before the storm gets too severe. But when the teens wake up the next day to discover one of their own dead, and the storm makes it impossible for them to leave, they quickly realize that they’re in danger. But is the killer one of the members of the Facebook protestors’ group…or one of their own? Despite the book’s intriguing setup, the prose is dominated by repetitive conversations that convey little substance. Still, readers may still find themselves propelled forward by a need to discover the identity of the murderer. The central cast is racially diverse.
A lukewarm thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593704080
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
A nonstop thrill ride through an eerily claustrophobic setting.
A secret party in the Paris catacombs sounds like the experience of a lifetime—until you’re lost in the tunnels of the dead.
Ruby has been looking forward to her French class trip to Paris for ages; she’s especially excited to explore locations for her YouTube channel, “Ruby’s Hidden Gems.” When her adventurous bestie, Val, sneaks off to meet up with a handsome stranger, Ruby follows, accompanied by former BFF Selena and class valedictorian Olivia. The four girls trustingly follow the mysterious Julien into the Paris catacombs for an illegal cataphile party, but they all end up lost. Aboveground, Ruby’s other best friend (and crush) Sean and Selena’s girlfriend, Aliyah, help the police search for the missing teens. Underground, Ruby, Val, Selena, and Olivia confront the fractures in their friendships and struggle to find their way out. But wait—did some of the bones just come to life? From teen drama to suffocating nightmares, this book takes readers through twists and turns in the maze of tunnels beneath Paris. Urban’s prose is absorbing, leading readers through frightening scenes at a breakneck pace. Ruby’s narration of her harrowing journey is fast-paced and exciting. Sean’s chapters, which focus on his attempts to assist with the rescue, unfortunately distract from the far more compelling story playing out underground. The lead characters are white; Selena reads Latine, and Aliyah is cued Black.
A nonstop thrill ride through an eerily claustrophobic setting. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593625088
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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