A fast-paced thrill ride.
An incredible opportunity for a group of friends to shoot a movie at a notorious castle in Romania turns into a nightmare.
Alexandra Rush aspires to be a film director, but her dreams feel threatened when she gets wait-listed for the prestigious college program she was set on attending alongside her producer-wannabe boyfriend. With the help of a famous Romanian actress, Alex is given a new chance: She and six friends, all assumed White, get to spend spring break in Romania at Castle Prahova to create Alex’s Dracula-inspired short film. The castle was once home to Vlad Dracul, inspiration for the fictional vampire Dracula. In the novel’s opening scene, set after the fateful trip, readers learn that Alex was the only one to make it out alive. The story then jumps back to tell the complete tale, with parts of the subsequent criminal report interspersed. This exhilarating novel plays with the Dracula mythos in fun ways while using classic horror tropes like a remote, eerie locale and a mysterious man in a mask. There’s a cinematic feel throughout; it reads like an ode to beloved horror films such as Scream. Crisp writing builds tension and keeps the pages flying as the atmospheric and moody story becomes increasingly gruesome and twisty. Uneven power dynamics based on gender and financial status are skillfully woven in.
A fast-paced thrill ride. (Horror. 13-18)Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-20485-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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