Garfield fills in his werewolf hunter Moondog Nygerski’s (Moondog, 1995; Room 13, 1997) back story with an appetizing whirl of mysterious women, time travel, sex, gruesome death, lost innocence—and baseball, baseball, baseball. In keeping with his premise that time is no more linear than space, the plot curls back on itself repeatedly. Here, failed minor-league prospect Cyrus Nygerski meets beautiful, reticent Cassandra Paine in a bus station, takes her to a pivotal Red Sox/White Sox game (the famously tight pennant race of 1967), then loses her in the crowd. There, they fall in love months earlier, he turns into such an inspired hitter that the White Sox call him up to the “Show,” but after one at-bat wins a pivotal game, he’s murdered by a jealous husband. Meanwhile, on a Maine island, as Cassandra’s ten-year-old brother Timmy’s summer idyll is shattered by violence and parental infidelity, eerie, vulpine creatures appear beneath the full moon, and local tales tell of a bottomless pond with odd properties. As it shakes out, Cassandra becomes the tragic figure, traveling back in time to change the past by saving Nygerski, but then disappearing to protect him from her bestial alter ego. The breakup of the Paine family is detailed at length, and only tangentially relevant to the rest of the tale; otherwise, all the stories within stories make compelling reading, and their complex relationship is—more or less—made clear by the end. Textured, evocative prose that creates a rich milieu for a dark, multi-layered romance. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83840-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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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