Readers who enjoy macabre drama tinged with poignancy will devour this character-driven thriller.
Kidnapped teens face down grief, guilt, and revenge in a twisty battle to the death.
When high school senior Ana Reyes and six of her classmates win a coveted vacation in the school raffle, the last destination they expect is rundown Motel Loba in the middle of the desert. But sinister cell phone messages reveal the truth: They’re each responsible in some way for the fire that killed Ana’s twin brother, Danny, at school one year ago. Now, a stranger has lured them to the remote motel for punishment. Every hour they must banish the guiltiest person among them, who will die—or they will all be killed. The stranded teens are familiar archetypes—jock, goth, stoner, and so on—and the story is invigorated by the third-person narrative that pivots among their viewpoints. The cast presents as diverse in ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and their identities are subtly and naturally cued. As their tangled motives and interpersonal histories emerge, social cliques turn into deadly alliances. The hourly deaths, while deeply jarring, contain minimal gore. Francis’ debut is strongest when centering Ana’s growth through guilt and grief as she battles for survival. It’s undisputably her story, but other characters have their share of heroic, villainous, and even comedic turns. Ending on a hopeful note, the action closes with a nuanced take on forgiveness and redemption.
Readers who enjoy macabre drama tinged with poignancy will devour this character-driven thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781464253249
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
Exhilarating, nonstop fun.
A murder on The Escape Game, a popular reality TV show, puts the next round of contestants at risk—can they all get out alive?
The previous season of the show, in which groups of teens race to get through escape rooms, ended in disaster when Sierra Angelos and her team discovered another player lying dead in a coffin—her older sister, Alicia. But the network and ruthless executive producer determine that the show will go on. Prickly, olive-skinned Sierra, whom some suspect of murder, is returning—and she’s determined to find the killer. Her new team includes math whiz Carter Kelly, who’s Black; home-schooled, white-presenting Beck Matheson, who designs his own escape rooms and is trans; and Aditya Parvesh, who’s cued South Asian, has a way with words, and was pushed into auditioning by his movie star mother. At first, Team Helsing struggles to gel, but the teens’ shared desire to prove themselves makes them a formidable powerhouse—even if they’re hiding some of their true goals from one another. As clues to the killer’s identity start appearing, the players must try to make it to the finale before someone else becomes the next victim. This thrilling whodunit moves at a page-turning pace; the occasional reveals for the main mystery are well balanced with the tighter sequences of solving the escape rooms. The narration rotates among the central cast, allowing readers to empathize with each character in turn and be privy to even more intrigue.
Exhilarating, nonstop fun. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9798217006120
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 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
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