A smart and adventure-packed thriller with heart.
In the not-so-distant future, a clever but troubled teen weaves her way through life as a secret agent.
It started as harmless fun—a crush on a boy who wanted to play hooky from school. But everything went wrong, and 15-year-old Augusta Pine’s biometric electron-ink identity tattoo disappeared when her heart briefly stopped following the car accident that occurred after she hacked the car’s autopilot. The boy died in the crash. It’s commonplace for people to get tattoos that contain all their personal details. Everyone’s faces also appear in the Identity Security Division’s database, allowing their movements to be tracked. A mysterious man called Prefect visits Augusta in the hospital with an offer: She can get back her original identity and face prosecution for her crime, or she can take on a fresh identity and work for Prefect for 10 years. This premise sets the melancholic tone that runs throughout this story and is underscored by Augusta’s desperate longing for the family she had to leave behind. The mood is appealingly buoyed by her sharp wit, and the plentiful tech details, including an incredibly likable spybot bumblebee named Edgar. Three years on, she stumbles onto a violent attack in the Portland, Oregon, apartment building where she’s staying, and she’s drawn into helping cute, earnest neighbor Eames Ahlberg try to save his little sister, Piper, from terrorists who lock down the building. Chapters set in the propulsive present-day scenario are interspersed with debriefings from previous incidents in Augusta’s life, which are characterized by her good-natured defiance. The leads read white.
A smart and adventure-packed thriller with heart. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781250410528
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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 powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements.
A wary teen wonders if she should run when people come looking for her.
Lucy Smith was raised by her white father, who said little about her mother. Following his death and her stepmother’s abandonment, Lucy entered the foster care system at 14. Her stepmother revealed that Lucy’s birth mom was Native American, but her social worker urged her to keep that quiet. Battered by her time in the foster care system, it’s no wonder that 18-year-old Lucy is cautious when she’s approached by a man who says he’s an attorney who helps Native American foster kids connect with their families and communities. He introduces her to a friend who reveals to Lucy that she knows her Ojibwe maternal relatives—but a wary Lucy refuses her offer to learn more. Someone is stalking her, after all, and the FBI is investigating the bomb that went off in the diner where she worked—an event she’s sure targeted her. This stand-alone from bestseller Boulley, who’s an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, includes characters her fans will recognize from previous works. The action scenes are mediated by ruminations on the failings of the foster care system and strong portrayals of Lucy’s relationship with her father and her complicated identity. Ardent book lover Lucy is a sympathetic narrator whose strong sense of justice is coupled with a deep acceptance of others.
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements. (content warning, author’s note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328533
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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