A dark story filled with unexpected twists and turns and featuring a strong young protagonist.
A YA thriller tells the story of a teenager’s struggle to overcome trauma and her desire to embark on a new life.
Sunday Foster is a quiet, bookish 16-year old who has a boyfriend named Jack and a crush on Tyler, an older co-worker at the courthouse where she has a part-time job. Her sometimes-abusive parents, whom she thinks of only as “HE” and “SHE,” mostly ignore her; her brother died shortly before she was born. She has a plan to get into a good college, live with her boyfriend, and move on with her life, but her plans change after Tyler sexually assaults her. Afterward, she fears that she’s pregnant, and she enlists her shy, frequently bullied neighbor, Amir, to help her carry out a new plan of “pseudocide”: faking her death, adopting an entirely new identity, and leaving everything behind her. She plans to enact the scheme the week after the big school trip, but then a catastrophe occurs that speeds up her timeline. Under her new name, she makes her way to Las Vegas and finds out that a person she thought was her friend may have a dark side. Throughout this novel, Smith presents her protagonist with empathy; Sunday makes mistakes that are relatable and realistic, and her struggles as she finds her way in Vegas effectively get across how dangerous and difficult it can be to go it alone when one is young. Although the novel tackles such heavy issues as gun violence and sexual assault, the author treats the topics with the gravitas that they deserve, showing respect for her audience. This tense tale will keep readers on edge until its surprising finale.
A dark story filled with unexpected twists and turns and featuring a strong young protagonist.Pub Date: June 30, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Books With Soul
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 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
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