No slow burn here—this extreme homeward-bound tale thrills.
A long drive home goes drastically wrong in this dramatic survival novel.
After a visit to her Oregon dream college, California senior Lily finds her return travel plans derailed by a wildfire. Enter erstwhile best friend Natasha, who just happens to be in Portland; through the girls’ moms, she knows Lily needs a ride. The small talk is tense but tolerable—until Natasha unexpectedly picks up Elke in Eugene. Elke was expelled from middle school thanks to Lily, which led to the rift in Lily’s relationship with Natasha. Even with the wildfire encroaching, Natasha and Elke insist on stopping for doughnuts. When Natasha hits a motorcycle in the parking lot and they drive off, the enraged biker pursues them deep into the forest. Readers learn this was all a ploy by Natasha and Elke to scare Lily (the motorcyclist is in on it): payback for what happened in eighth grade. But the wildfire is tearing through the forest, setting the teens up for a night that will test their mettle, force them to rely on each other, and perhaps even rebuild their old bonds. The monster here is an increasingly common environmental threat. The breathless writing, with most chapters ending in cliffhangers, feels appropriate, creating a sense that the air has been sucked from the room. The peril the teens endure makes the saccharine ending a cleansing sigh of relief. Main characters read white.
No slow burn here—this extreme homeward-bound tale thrills. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728256795
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 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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