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 clever and often darkly funny mystery.
Small-town secrets provide steady fuel for an ambitious teen looking to secure a spot in a top journalism program.
Lydia Chass is enraged when she learns her high school guidance counselor’s oversight has jeopardized her graduation, and she threatens to expose his alcohol use disorder unless she’s permitted to quickly make up her missing history credit. Ever the plotter, she pulls in Bristal Jamison, a senior also in need of a credit for graduation, whose delinquent behavior and bad family reputation will put a sharper edge on On the Ground in Flyover Country, Lydia’s podcast about their hometown of Henley, Ohio, thus making it more likely to catch the eyes of Ivy League admissions officers. Bristal and Lydia’s emerging friendship and Lydia’s self-absorption and understanding of her own class privilege evolve realistically as the pair decide to focus on an unsolved homicide that occurred in the 1990s and was discovered during a devastating week in which Henley suffered both a tornado and flash flood—and that may not have been the only crime to take place. In this tightknit community, their sleuthing produces uncomfortable questions that lead back to people close to them in difficult ways. Wickedly comic dialogue and interesting characters—particularly wonderfully lewd feminist Bristal—will keep readers engaged through the many twists and turns. All main characters read White.
A clever and often darkly funny mystery. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-323036-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
Love deserves a standing ovation in this multilayered exploration of what it truly means to feel seen.
A stage manager and his sister both develop a crush on the same guy.
Everyone thinks juniors and longtime queer platonic besties Jackson and Bowie should date. But Iranian and white Jackson, who’s deaf, must constantly triage his sister Jasmine’s relationship woes by making breakup lists that extol her exes’ worst qualities. When white, “classically handsome” swimmer Liam auditions for the fall musical, trouble ensues when both Jackson and Jasmine start crushing on him. Jasmine pursues Liam first, making Liam “absolutely, 100 percent off limits.” But Liam keeps tucking in Jackson’s shirt tags. He also starts learning sign language from Bowie, a nonbinary, Black, aromantic, and asexual child of deaf adults. Liam hopes this will help them communicate better, a meaningful action and something Jackson’s family hasn’t put much effort into. What’s a boy to do? This sweet, slow-burn sibling love triangle with an added sprinkling of family drama rivals Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper (2020) in its cuteness and appeal. Countless references show an insider’s knowledge of—and reverence for—high school theater. The strong first-person narration immerses readers in Jackson’s story, and the use of “somethingsomething” effectively conveys times when Jackson, who wears hearing aids and reads lips, misses dialogue. The supporting characters bring additional diversity in race and queer identity.
Love deserves a standing ovation in this multilayered exploration of what it truly means to feel seen. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593616390
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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