A semi-climactic confrontation leaves characters poised for Book 3; only series devotees will be as well.
The plot wallows as Mackenzie struggles to reunite with her werewolf boyfriend, Kyle, in this sequel to Hemlock (2012).
She hopes to find him in Denver, something of a mecca for those infected with Lupine Syndrome. With two of her best friends—boyfriend wannabe Jason, recently a member of the werewolf-hating Trackers, and werewolf Serena—she tracks him down at a werewolf nightclub presided over by her father, who abandoned her three years before. There’s little time for reunions, though, as a Tracker raid quickly sends Mackenzie, Kyle and Serena to Thornhill, a model “rehabilitation camp.” There, Mackenzie poses as a werewolf, hoping to effect a rescue from inside. Complicating matters is the removal of Serena to a top-secret facility within Thornhill, for no-doubt-nefarious purposes. This is too bad, as Serena was one of the more interesting characters in the first book, but a couple other wolves—Eve, a punk protégée of Mackenzie’s father’s, and Dex, an internee with dark suspicions—help to compensate. Unfortunately, far too much of the plot is given over to Mackenzie’s hand-wringing over having put everybody in danger and the swoony kisses she shares with Kyle in stolen moments. Real-world parallels to such issues as closeted homosexuality and the spread of HIV are quickly indicated and then dropped.
A semi-climactic confrontation leaves characters poised for Book 3; only series devotees will be as well. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-204868-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
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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