A thoroughly enjoyable, suspenseful supernatural tale.
Something wicked this way comes in acclaimed horror writer Sutherland’s YA debut.
When 11th grader Josephine and her family head off on a winter vacation to their newly inherited mansion in Vermont, they are each dreaming of a place to relax and recharge for a week. Josephine is especially eager to escape the burgeoning powers that allow her to hear and enter other people’s thoughts but leave her with debilitating headaches. As they settle in, the house seems perfectly tailored to their family of seven. The family’s dreams, however, soon turn into nightmares, as Josephine begins seeing apparitions, while her parents and siblings start suffering from short-term memory loss. As events grow stranger and more dangerous, Josephine starts to suspect that there is an evil lurking behind their closed doors. When a ghost named Dorcas appears to her, Josephine is unable to determine whether this specter is friend or foe. But when she finds out the truth about the house’s history and Dorcas’ past, Josephine realizes that her family’s lives are in grave danger, and she’s the only person who may be able to save them. Major characters are coded white; after experiencing attraction to a local girl, Josephine questions her inkling that she might be asexual. Grimm’s fairy-tale references are sprinkled throughout, adding a macabre veil to an equally creepy story. This moody, atmospheric novel ramps up to a spine-tingling surprise twist after a slow-burn first half.
A thoroughly enjoyable, suspenseful supernatural tale. (author’s note) (Supernatural. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781774880968
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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
A fresh, generous, wide-ranging compendium of frights.
Spooky stories covering multiple subgenres, plus some added attractions.
Few horrific tropes or creepy conventions are overlooked in Duplessie’s debut. The stories are arranged into six sections: “Short Frights for Dark Nights,” “Anatomical Anomalies,” “Five Minutes in the Future,” “Be Careful Who You Trust,” “The Dark Web,” and “The Unearthly, the Ghoulish, and the Downright Monstrous.” Some of the best entries are grounded in familiar setups, but Duplessie is careful to avoid repetition. The stories’ relatively short lengths and the crisp, direct writing style make this volume inviting for even reluctant readers, but it doesn’t shy away from the truly terrifying and grotesque. That said, the grisliest events are often described with poetic elegance rather than gratuitous violence: “His face collapsed like an empty paper bag.” The stories frequently conclude with the suggestion of frights to come rather than graphic depictions. One ends with an overly curious girl getting sealed up in a brick wall. Another foreshadows the murderous power of a cellphone. Highlights include the eerie “The Reaping,” in which the prick of a rose’s thorn triggers a spate of bloodlust, and “Chamber of Horrors,” which features a murderous iron maiden. Each story ends with a bonus in the form of a QR code and instructions to “scan the code for a scare”—if readers dare. Short, eerie poems are peppered throughout; there are even a handful of riddles. Most characters read white; names cue some ethnic diversity.
A fresh, generous, wide-ranging compendium of frights. (Horror. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780063266483
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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