A worthy sequel to an imaginative new series.
This sequel to Insomnia (2013) takes readers further into the minds of the Night Walkers.
Parker spent the last book coping with his debilitating condition: He is a Watcher, meaning he enters the dreams of the last person in the day with whom he makes eye contact. Now Parker learns of people with related paranormal abilities: the Takers and the Builders. Although the Builders help repair Watchers’ sleep-deprived minds, the Takers literally absorb the minds of anyone they wish to take over, using their bodies up within only a few years, then moving on to other victims. Parker learns through Jack, his new mentor, that his long-absent father left to distract the Takers from his family and might still be alive. Jack knows where the Taker compound is located. Can Parker and his friends conquer the Takers, even while Parker’s best friend, Finn, has become their victim? Can Parker learn to control Darkness, his violent alter ego? Johansson plunges readers directly into this sequel, milking dream sequences—of both Parker and his friends—for suspense while also cultivating the misunderstandings that arise from Parker’s dilemma, especially when his girlfriend comes to believe him to be a liar. The final battle, while nicely tense, seems just a bit too easy for the level of danger involved, but readers should enjoy the adventure nonetheless.
A worthy sequel to an imaginative new series. (Paranormal suspense. 12-18)Pub Date: June 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7387-4018-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
A gripping tribute to resilience.
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.
A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.
A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781728270111
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A lukewarm thriller.
In England, a group of teenagers tries to stay alive when a long weekend in an abandoned castle goes wrong.
When Bessie and her friends decide to join a party their classmate Allegra is throwing in her family’s abandoned castle before it’s converted into apartments, they think the biggest issues they’ll face are making it there before a big storm hits and keeping their plans secret from their parents and teachers. Once they arrive at the castle, however, Bessie and best friend Kashvi discover menacing graffiti and evidence that someone has been staying in the cellar. They also learn that protestors from the nearby village are angry about the development plans for the castle—one of them even argues that it would be better to burn it down. A handful of classmates manage to get there before the storm gets too severe. But when the teens wake up the next day to discover one of their own dead, and the storm makes it impossible for them to leave, they quickly realize that they’re in danger. But is the killer one of the members of the Facebook protestors’ group…or one of their own? Despite the book’s intriguing setup, the prose is dominated by repetitive conversations that convey little substance. Still, readers may still find themselves propelled forward by a need to discover the identity of the murderer. The central cast is racially diverse.
A lukewarm thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593704080
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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