A shocking, spine-tingling ending proves that ghost stories never go out of style.
Even small towns have urban legends.
Since 16-year-old Rinn’s last manic episode resulted in the death of her grandmother, she and her mother have uprooted from California to relocate temporarily in her mother’s rural Ohio hometown. With her bipolar disorder under control for the moment, Rinn’s new life seems promising—until she discovers that a tunnel built to bypass the gym at her high school is rumored to be haunted by Annaliese, a teen who drowned in the school’s swimming pool 20 years ago. After a séance conducted by fellow classmates unleashes the ghost’s full powers, strange “accidents” begin occurring around the school. The story builds in intensity as both Rinn and Annaliese show their determination to overtake each other's will. Their power struggles highlight Rinn’s constant battle to overcome her disorder and appear normal again. But how can a bipolar teen, already known for hearing strange voices, seeing hallucinations and experiencing psychotic episodes, convince those around her of the ghost’s homicidal plans? To stop Annaliese, Rinn may just have to find out what started her haunting in the first place. A steamy romance with the best catch at school adds just the right balance to the novel’s chilling effects.
A shocking, spine-tingling ending proves that ghost stories never go out of style. (Supernatural thriller. 14 & up)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59990-723-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
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