An immersive, bracing mystery with a big heart.
A teenage crush gets interrupted by a horrible murder in this debut YA novel.
It’s the summer of 1962. Eighteen-year-old Paul Dawson just needs to make it through his senior year of high school and then he can leave suburban Caroline Hills in upstate New York behind to become a writer. Until then, he’s stuck lying in his bedroom, playing Roy Orbison songs over and over, and daydreaming about what it would be like to have a girlfriend. His handsome twin brother, Bobby, doesn’t have that problem. He’s the star quarterback; he’s dating the head cheerleader; and he’s also seeing Betty Jo Randall on the side. Then, one day, the perfect girl for Paul appears out of the blue and moves in right next door. “In another life, she must have been a mermaid,” thinks Paul, spying on her over the fence. “Someone that lovely can’t be just anybody. The sky gave her his grey blue eyes. Her rippling red hair cascades down her back like a waterfall. The wind loves her hair. I have never seen a girl let the wind have a way with her hair if she could help it before.” Jenny Winters has just moved in with her grandmother in Caroline Hills after her mother—with whom she’s never had a great relationship—kicked her out of the house for reasons the young woman would prefer not to talk about. Paul will do anything to hang out with Jenny, and she will do anything to stir up some trouble, which is how the two end up breaking into the lake house of the local doctor on the Fourth of July. The same day, Betty Jo is raped and killed—and Bobby is the obvious suspect. But Paul and Jenny think they may have seen the actual murderer, though they’ll need proof if anyone is going to believe them. Can the two outsiders crack the case open and save the town from a killer? And can Paul figure out a way to win the heart of his emotionally unavailable crush?
Williams’ prose is lively and smooth. While many of the characters feel like types, she imbues them with energy and humor that make them fresh. The narration shifts between Paul and Jenny, who are both delightfully angst-y, albeit in different ways. Here, Paul panics when Jenny instigates some spontaneous skinny-dipping at the lake: “I empty my pockets. I throw out my wallet, my pocket knife, my admission tickets to the fair, and some folded pieces of paper. I take off my socks and shoes….I pull off my belt so slowly. I don’t know what to do. What would Bobby do? Oh, hell. He’d already be in the lake now.” The characterization, especially the richness of the protagonists’ inner lives, helps the novel to feel bigger than its mystery plot. The author manages to capture the promise and danger of being young, particularly the dynamic of a teenage relationship where one person has lived a lot more life than the other. Readers will look forward to Williams’ future offerings.
An immersive, bracing mystery with a big heart.Pub Date: March 12, 2023
ISBN: 9798987360705
Page Count: 467
Publisher: Elizabeth Storyteller
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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