Mental potato chips, happily devoured.
Who can you trust when you can’t even trust yourself?
Blythe Warren, a 17-year-old attending a small private STEM school run by her parents’ employer, a medical technology company, is shocked when one of her friends has a breakdown in class. Normally even-keeled Gabrielle Harris starts swearing, shouting, and raving about the security cameras and how they’re always watching her, and the teacher sends her to the vice principal’s office. When Blythe goes to check on her later, she stumbles across a bloody crime scene. Strangely, the next day Blythe remembers nothing about it: She only has memories of slipping on the bathroom floor and hitting her head. But when the combination of gruesome visions, invasive thoughts, and inaccurate memories becomes impossible to ignore, Blythe is set on a course of discovery that will uncover a web of secrets and lies among her friends and family—some of which are unknown to the very people who keep them. The story will be pure catnip to readers who love twists, turns, and mysteries involving pretty White kids with problems, especially if they’re willing to occasionally overlook realism for the drama of it all. The mysteries on top of mysteries will keep the pages turning in this plot-driven thriller with reluctant-reader appeal.
Mental potato chips, happily devoured. (Thriller. 12-17)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780735270923
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An atmospheric and entertaining thriller perfect for snowy night chills.
A group of teens stranded in a snowstorm discovers a murderer in their midst.
While traveling on the highway to a state theater competition, Nell and her friends Min, Raven, Adam, and Jermaine are caught in a dangerous blizzard. Their teacher, Mrs. McElroy, who is driving the minivan, decides to stop for the night at the run-down and shady-looking Travel Inn and Out. The motel is labyrinthine and spooky, with dingy corridors and walls adorned with moldering kitsch. Nell and the gang meet another group of kids who are also stranded by the storm, making fast friends. A game of Two Truths and a Lie starts out flirty and fun but devolves into something more sinister when one slip of paper reads “I like to watch people die,” and “I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve killed.” The snow falls and the winds howl, and soon power and cell service are lost, cutting off the motel patrons from the outside world. As the first victim is discovered and the body count begins to grow, the terror becomes palpable. Everyone at the motel seems to have an insidious secret: Will Nell be able to uncover the killer before they strike again? An homage to Agatha Christie, Henry’s locked-room mystery is tautly plotted, with quick-moving nail-biting chapters, relatable characters, and a deftly wrought setting that paradoxically manages to feel both claustrophobic and sprawling. Nell is White; there is diversity among the secondary characters.
An atmospheric and entertaining thriller perfect for snowy night chills. (Mystery. 12-16)Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-32333-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Dark academia rendered toothless.
At an elite boarding school, a group of teens find themselves in the midst of a decades-old mystery.
Nestled in the mountains of Colorado lies the prestigious Meddlehart Academy, a prep school with a storied past. Sutter Heyward is returning for his junior year, but this time things are different: His beloved older brother, Lawson, a fellow Meddlehart student, went missing the previous year. Sutter and his friends—Margot, Carter, Fallon, and Grayson—learn about a secret society, the Order of the Vipers, that’s seeking a rumored treasure buried somewhere on campus. The teens are recruited, and they hope that joining the order will help them learn the truth about what happened to Lawson. But before long, they discover that the school’s secrets are more sinister than they ever could have imagined. Jackson’s debut is ambitious in scope but falters under the weight of a bloated narrative that mixes a secret society, treasure hunting, a romance, and a missing-persons case without fully integrating the strands into a coherent whole. A central love triangle feels overly melodramatic and stiff, often eclipsing the thriller aspects. The chapters rotate among Sutter’s, Fallon’s, and Grayson’s third-person perspectives, but their voices sound irritatingly similar. The teens encounter few red herrings and decipher clues with breezy ease, lessening the suspense. As the case concludes, there’s a hint of more adventures to come. Carter has dark brown skin, and other main characters are cued white.
Dark academia rendered toothless. (map) (Thriller. 12-17)Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9798217026982
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
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