A funny supernatural tale with spooky scenes, sincere emotions, and a solidly satisfying ending.
Plans to study for the SAT go horribly wrong when they are interrupted by a golfer cult’s demon-summoning plot in this comic YA horror novel.
Bing and Ron Slaughter are identical twins and half of the Ephits, a punk band (formerly the Angry Red Welts). Bing is the frontman and songwriter, and Ron plays bass. They’ve got to do well on their SATs to get into good schools. Otherwise, it’s goodbye to their parents’ financial support and hello to careers at McDonald’s, where Mr. and Mrs. Slaughter work as operational planners. Maybe it’s not the best idea to study at a remote cabin in the woods the night before the SATs with the other Ephits, Prathamesh “Meat” Kimitri (drummer) and Kaitlyn Krimpsen (keyboard), but that’s the plan. Things soon go awry when a monster lightning storm strikes, cutting off the power, and the twins’ history teacher, Mr. Brom, pounds on the cabin door wielding a dagger—which has a mind of its own. Through its manipulations, the group dodges dangers, arriving at a golf-course clubhouse, but it’s no sanctuary. As Mr. Brom explains, “Insane cultists, Satan worshipers and evil wizards are like elderly nuns compared to the Golfers’ Association.” It’s up to the twins to save their friends from becoming blood sacrifices and prevent a powerful demon from being unleashed on the world. Hardison (Fish Wielder, 2016) writes an exciting tale with nonstop action, supernatural horror, and plenty of humor. Pop-culture references enliven the dialogue, as when Kaitlyn tearfully whispers, “The needs of the many” (from Star Trek II) to the band’s bus, demolished in getaway service. Hardison writes amusingly that his protagonists “had almost been killed, and they were experiencing cheap and melodramatic personal revelations,” but in fact the characters do come to new—and not at all cheap—understandings about their roles, relationships, and life paths, a great strength of the book. A nice twist at the end isn’t easy to see coming and works very well to tie things together.
A funny supernatural tale with spooky scenes, sincere emotions, and a solidly satisfying ending.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-946143-17-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Fiery Seas
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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