A taut thriller combined with an enthralling tale of adolescence.
Members of a school basketball team fall prey to someone’s diabolical plan in this middle-grade novel.
Will Moore starts the seventh grade as the new kid in Washington County, Virginia. The athletic tween makes friends easily, especially once he joins the middle school’s football team. And since he excels at multiple sports, it looks like he’ll be a jock year-round. Jared Cook, in contrast, is a meek loner and, sadly, a regular target for bullies. But once basketball season starts, he unleashes his skills at tryouts and impresses the coach. Though Will and others welcome Jared to the team, some members goad and berate him whenever possible. Meanwhile, as the fall semester progresses, a mysterious presence seemingly lurks in the school. A stranger periodically drugs students (mostly members of the basketball team), who later awaken. But a few of these assaults come with vague threats, like a black-inked message on Jared’s body: “WATCH YOUR BACK.” As this is all part of someone’s fiendish plot, it culminates in an attack against the entire basketball team, leaving the members to fight for their lives. The bulk of Saur’s lengthy book (508 pages) is a coming-of-age tale for the 12-year-old protagonists. It shrewdly explores their home lives: Will’s dad, who has grappled with a drinking problem, suffers from PTSD as a result of his tours in Iraq; Jared deals with his older brother’s bullying. The author delivers swiftly paced, aggressively played basketball games that stay appropriate for younger readers. Trash talk on the court, for example, doesn’t get much worse than “beanpole” for Jared and “shrimp” for Will. In the same vein, the narrative’s scarier latter half derives intensity from suspense rather than violent acts. While the villain’s appalling motivation makes sense, the culprit’s overly elaborate plan is baffling, even as some characters try explaining it. Nevertheless, it’s perfectly clear that Will, Jared, and several others are in danger.
A taut thriller combined with an enthralling tale of adolescence.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-949317-08-4
Page Count: 520
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Decades after the events of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009), teenager Gabry lives in relative safety. Despite the Barrier keeping the ravaging zombies out of town, Gabry is a terrified homebody who wants only to stay sheltered with her mother, the refugee heroine of Forest. Her nervousness is justified; when Gabry is peer-pressured into sneaking past the Barrier for a night of adolescent rebellion, several of her friends are zombified. (One wonders, if teens sneaking out for a snog is so dangerous to society, how there any humans left at all.) The ensuing chaos sends Gabry into the wilderness where, encumbered by revelations about love and family, she encounters zombie-worshiping cultists, the dangerous remnants of the army and her own past. Whatever comes between Gabry and her mother, there’s one thing they definitely have in common: Like her mother, Gabry experiences an angst-ridden, gloomy love triangle while fleeing from zombie hordes in the forest’s depths. Fast-paced despite the mawkish romance, it will be gobbled up by fans of the first volume like brains. (Horror. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-385-73684-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
Maynard (Quiet, Wyatt!, 1999) makes fire the pivotal plot element in this short, episodic action novel. In the small village of McIntosh, Jed, the fire chief’s son, is branded a fire bug for a past transgression in which he accidentally burned down the family garage. Now, when a local swamp catches fire, he is the first to be blamed. Norm Dempsey, wannabe fire chief, is first to point the finger. Through a freak accident, Jed’s father lands in a coma in the hospital. A series of fires, a swamp fire, brush fire, barn fire, and school fire in the sports equipment room, forms a string of actions that make up the story. Toss in a few boyish pranks and some not-so-subtle clues and the story builds to its natural climax—an even bigger fire. This time, a monster train wreck sets the whole pond ablaze. Not surprisingly, Jed takes charge and steps in to rescue the day, the nursing home and surrounding houses, with a little help from his recuperating father, all in the name of saving face and proving that Norm Dempsey is behind the arsons. This fast-moving, predictable fare has some great action sequences, with appeal for mystery fans. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-399-23439-X
Page Count: 149
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
© 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
