Suspenseful fun.
In a follow-up to Deadly Cool (2011), Hartley Featherstone returns to romp through another murder mystery.
Hartley has joined the Herbert Hoover High online-newspaper staff, working for her intriguing, black-clad friend, Chase, the editor. She’s set to interview Sydney, caught cheating on strict Mr. Tipkins’ math test. Hartley arrives for the interview only to find Sydney face down in her pool, electrocuted by her laptop, an apparent victim of “Twittercide.” Hartley again meets the annoying Detective Raley, who can’t really do his job because Hartley won’t tell him what she knows. Raley thinks Sydney committed suicide, but Hartley convinces herself that it had to be murder and sets out to catch the culprit. Again, she puts herself in danger, sneaking off at night to dark parks and breaking into her school, trying to investigate how the test answers might have been stolen. She winds up at the homecoming dance with Chase, a welcome development, but her investigation may have worried the murderer, who now targets Hartley. Will she survive? And what’s Detective Raley doing with Hartley’s mom? Halliday again balances the comedy and suspense notes well, keeping her characters intriguing and her narrative bright. Hartley has enough smarts combined with obvious foibles to make her a likable heroine. Meanwhile, the mystery bubbles along.
Suspenseful fun. (Mystery. 12 & up)Pub Date: April 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-200322-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
“Death is a period / at the end of a sentence,” concludes Annaleah, the 16-year-old protagonist of Schutz’s captivating fictional follow-up to her verse memoir (I Don’t Want To Be Crazy, 2006). And much like the resolute finality fixed in that tiny dot, Annaleah spends a great deal of this free-verse novel stuck contemplating the harsh reality that her sometime boyfriend, Brian—a seemingly healthy, dark-haired, cloudy-blue–eyed 17-year-old—has just dropped dead on the basketball court. Reeling from both physical loss and lack of closure to the meaning of their clandestine relationship, Annaleah finds herself routinely visiting and addressing the deceased Brian, until a chance graveside encounter yields advice that finally begins to hit home: “Nothing grows here,” says Brian’s grandmother, “besides grass.” At first blush appearing to pull out all the melodramatic stops in classic teen fashion, these refreshingly spare lines tackle tough relational issues—intimacy, risk, abandonment—with aplomb, making for a moving tale that also effectively shows teens how life can go on. (Fiction/poetry. 14 & up)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-545-16911-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: PUSH/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Once there was a poor child who had no father or mother—they, like everyone in the world, had died. In search of heaven, the lonely boy traverses the cosmos, but all that symbolizes hope and possibility is found worthless and what seemed bright and beautiful reeks of despair. The Earth is an empty vessel, and the moon, sun and stars become metaphors for the desolation and disease of the universe. Based on a story found in Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck, Amann’s bleak adaptation offers a conversation piece for sophisticated readers. Bhend’s lyrical artwork, done in colored pencil and mixed media, with its soft colors and texture, is a welcome contrast to the blackness of space and story. While her style seems simple, her cerebral images aptly represent the child’s complex, metaphysical journey and are appropriately ripe with symbols. It is she who leaves readers with the idea that peace and comfort may be possible; the barren, dark realm evoked by the words demands this mercy. This may be a good companion for those studying Büchner, but it's sure not for the usual picture-book audience. (Picture book. 12 & up)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7358-2316-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf