Ghost story or mean girls running amok? Either way, still a page-turner if light on characterization.
Haley, a senior on scholarship at an exclusive prep school, is hunting a ghost that may just be hunting her.
The year before, Haley’s former best friend, mean-spirited Taylor, jumped to her death from her dorm window. The administration wrote it off as a drug-induced suicide, but Haley isn’t so sure after Taylor’s brother sends her a video Taylor recorded on her phone shortly before her demise. After all, almost everyone agrees that the senior dorm is haunted by the Winter Girl, the ghost of a young woman in white. Now Haley embarks on serious research, dipping into the school’s archival materials, interviewing alumnae and previous employees, and talking to other students about their experiences. Her increasingly revealing explorations serve as a counterpoint to brief chapters that appear to be from the unhappy, vindictive ghost’s point of view. Since Haley abandoned Taylor shortly before her death, she feels a strong sense of responsibility for what happened, but is that guilt misplaced or, as the ghost accuses, did she make her jump? Although the creepy dorm and its unhappy residents are richly evoked, none of the default White characters except first-person narrator Haley are well enough developed to fully flesh out the story or support the surprising—and fairly implausible—climax.
Ghost story or mean girls running amok? Either way, still a page-turner if light on characterization. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: July 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-18079-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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
A gripping tribute to resilience.
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.
A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.
A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781728270111
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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