An unputdownable, deliciously unsettling read.
Four teenagers with ulterior motives endure a deadly game of cat-and-mouse through the bustling streets of London.
Nine months after his collaborator, Rose Tavistock, died in a mysterious accident, “disgraced teenage millionaire” and video game creator Anton Frazer stages his comeback. He announces a competition with a £100,000 prize in which 100 hand-picked recruits will use augmented virtual reality goggles and GPS devices to pick each other off, while also vanquishing virtual ghosts and completing side quests. Four participants, however, have darker motives for taking part: Quiet Grayson vows to avenge ex-girlfriend Rose’s death, fanfic writer Charlotte is determined to win Anton’s undying affection, social media star Erin is desperate to escape her blogger mother’s clutches, and student reporter Emma is dead set on getting a scoop that catapults her to journalistic stardom. All bets are off, however, when an avatar of Rose hijacks the game, claiming there’s a murderer among them and setting off a deadly chain of events. Though the multifaceted main characters in this impeccably paced, pulse-pounding page-turner are terribly flawed, their humanity will keep readers rooting for them. This unusually deft, compulsively readable blend of mystery, thriller, realistic fiction, and horror with a bit of science fiction sprinkled in features incredible plot twists and will appeal to a broad range of teen readers. Most major characters read white; Emma’s surname cues Japanese heritage.
An unputdownable, deliciously unsettling read. (Thriller. 13-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728278889
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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