An anticlimactic thriller that tries to do too much.
A self-aware retelling of Strangers on a Train with a twist.
Friendless Carlsbad, California, teen Neve Lanier goes off to GLAM—the Girls Leadership and Mentorship summer camp—where she befriends perky Diane Russell, quickly developing a crush on her. In a reference to the plot of the movie, they jokingly swear to kill each other’s bullies. For Neve, the perpetrator in question is her former best friend, Yasmin Attar, who, cued by her use of Farsi, reads as Persian American. In contrast to the default White main characters, this nonspecific coding of people of color is followed for Diane’s bully, Javier Flores, her stepbrother, who is supposedly guilty of sexual assault. While Neve had perceived this pact as a joke, Yasmin in fact turns up dead, and Diane starts blackmailing her to do her part and kill Javier in return. Complicating matters, Neve develops a crush on Javier once she gets closer to him. The story falters under the weight of pacing issues—static for nearly two-thirds of the book and rushed toward the end—as well as plot holes and inconsistent character development. Neve’s unsympathetic framing of her father’s mental illness as burdensome will not sit well with some readers. Neve is a fan of classic films, but the continual references to old movies take readers out of the narrative and ultimately add little to the story.
An anticlimactic thriller that tries to do too much. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-07284-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
A lukewarm thriller.
In England, a group of teenagers tries to stay alive when a long weekend in an abandoned castle goes wrong.
When Bessie and her friends decide to join a party their classmate Allegra is throwing in her family’s abandoned castle before it’s converted into apartments, they think the biggest issues they’ll face are making it there before a big storm hits and keeping their plans secret from their parents and teachers. Once they arrive at the castle, however, Bessie and best friend Kashvi discover menacing graffiti and evidence that someone has been staying in the cellar. They also learn that protestors from the nearby village are angry about the development plans for the castle—one of them even argues that it would be better to burn it down. A handful of classmates manage to get there before the storm gets too severe. But when the teens wake up the next day to discover one of their own dead, and the storm makes it impossible for them to leave, they quickly realize that they’re in danger. But is the killer one of the members of the Facebook protestors’ group…or one of their own? Despite the book’s intriguing setup, the prose is dominated by repetitive conversations that convey little substance. Still, readers may still find themselves propelled forward by a need to discover the identity of the murderer. The central cast is racially diverse.
A lukewarm thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593704080
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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