A smart, unpredictable, and emotionally rich roller-coaster ride.
An English teen experiencing post-traumatic dissociative amnesia struggles to escape from his persistent emotional numbness.
Melinda, who’s clever, sarcastic Elias’ therapist, reassures him that he’s not a psychopath, but Eli persists in feeling it may be so. After leaving one of their sessions, he decides to deliberately commit a “ruthless act,” testing whether he can feel guilty, and settles on stealing a phone from a random girl at a bus stop. He sets in motion a complex series of twists and turns that leave him questioning all he knows about himself. Eli’s funny, self-deprecating narrative voice balances the grim details of his past, which are parsed out in quick increments, rapidly building the novel’s tension. These details include his diagnosis of ADHD, medication that caused a hypomanic episode, and an event that left him with scars on his head and chest—as well as a sweetly real but forgotten romance. Eli’s experience as the odd man out in his high-achieving family—his father is a well-known member of Parliament, his mother is a crown prosecutor, and his brother (who’s “Perfect Son Material”) attends Cambridge—serves the story’s overarching unsettled feeling well. Eli is gay, and his family is supportive, but it’s clear, despite their assurances that they just want him to be happy, that they’re uncomfortable with the messiness of his mental health. Most main characters are cued white.
A smart, unpredictable, and emotionally rich roller-coaster ride. (Psychological thriller. 13-18)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798217029631
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series.
Eighteen-year-old sleuth Stevie Bell is back to investigate another mystery in this stand-alone addition to the Truly Devious series.
Stevie is nursing a broken heart following her recent split from boyfriend David. Fed up with her parents’ lack of understanding and support—they regard her interest in solving murders as “creepy” and “weird”—she announces that she’s not coming home for Christmas. But now she’s at a loose end; spending winter break “alone on murder mountain” at Ellingham Academy, her Vermont boarding school, doesn’t seem ideal. So when the opportunity arises to accompany her close friend Nate to New York City, she willingly agrees. The third-person chapters switch between Stevie’s contemporary experience among a group of eccentric, often-clashing residents of a Manhattan apartment building and a young woman named Blue who becomes entangled in a cult in the 1970s. A trail of clues is laid that Stevie can’t resist following. Readers will be kept guessing how the intertwining storylines fit together until the very end. The novel expands to explore Stevie’s relationships and growth, including her ongoing management of her anxiety disorder. The marvelously clever dialogue, abundance of heart, and witty, memorable, and well-rounded cast elevate this beyond standard mystery fare. Both timelines establish the New York City setting as its own character. Stevie and Blue read white.
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series. (map) (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063256019
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
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