Gripping and unsettling.
Ruthie will stop at nothing to find her missing best friend.
After her mother dies, Ruthie Hayden returns to her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Though she isn’t keen on living with her now-sober father, she’s ecstatic to be reunited with her best friend, Zahra Gaines. Traces of their friendship still linger in scrawled script on playground equipment, but Zahra is gone. At first, it’s assumed she ran off with her boyfriend, Ben Peavy, but when he returns from a camping trip alone, Zahra is declared missing. Ruthie immediately becomes obsessed with finding her. She ingratiates herself with Zahra’s friends, investigates places she frequented, and even follows Ben. It quickly becomes clear that Zahra hid things from everyone around her and struggled with secret trauma. The more Ruthie learns, the less she feels like she really knew Zahra—but maybe, she thinks, she’s the only one who does. Ruthie hurtles toward the truth, propelled by a need to find out where Zahra is now and what dark forces drew her there yet not ready for what she might find. Ruthie’s desperate quest to find her friend thrums at a fever pitch. The reveal of Zahra’s fate unfolds in an eerie crescendo that’s both well earned and unnerving. Zahra is biracial (black/white), and Ben is Koyukon Athabaskan. The author includes thoughtful commentary about the ways that Zahra’s and Ben’s races affect their treatments as victim and suspect.
Gripping and unsettling. (Mystery 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59514-854-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist.
The mother Annabel Price thought was dead returns with a story about where she’s been—but 18-year-old Bel knows she’s lying.
Ever since Rachel Price’s unexplained disappearance 16 years ago, true-crime fans have come up with plentiful theories about what happened. Bel and her family members, who are white, cobbled together lives for themselves after a jury found Bel’s father, Charlie, not guilty of murdering his wife. Beset with medical bills for his elderly father, Charlie recently agreed to participate in a documentary about the unsolved mystery. Black British filmmaker Ramsey Lee is well into the process of interviewing the Prices when his project gets an unanticipated boost after an exhausted, disheveled Rachel staggers back into town. Rachel is eager to resume her role in the family, but the inconsistencies in her accounts raise alarms for Bel. With the help of the youngest member of the filmmaking team, Bel sets out to learn what really happened. Along the way, someone else disappears, and Bel uncovers a tangle of lies that make it impossible for her to trust people she thought she knew. When things come to a head the night of her grandfather’s 85th birthday party, Bel ends up in a race for her life. The last quarter of the novel tears along at a breakneck pace before arriving at a satisfying and unexpected conclusion.
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593374207
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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