An uneven psychological puzzle.
A traumatized girl no one believes grapples with the truth behind her abduction.
In this companion to Jane Anonymous (2020) that requires no knowledge of the previous volume, trauma survivor Terra’s only comfort comes from the online support group Jane Anonymous, where she bonds with fellow survivors. In segments labeled “THEN,” Terra journals her four-day kidnapping ordeal on the website. In “NOW” segments, she copes with the fallout six months afterward—a lack of evidence and her unreliability as a witness due to her mental health diagnoses and past behavior result in her being discredited and ostracized—as she searches for proof that her abduction really happened. In a voice more impressionistic than chronological, readers discover the trauma that orphaned Terra and the details of the abduction. Laid out starkly, it’s easy to see why she was discredited—however, despite how unreliable a narrator she is, the sensory details of her ordeal are compelling enough to keep readers guessing. Through online chats, the theme of the loneliness of not being heard and believed is hammered in. The intriguing opening gives way to some sag in the middle while a storyline with her closest Jane Anonymous friend builds: Peyton is worried that her abductor is coming back for her, and Terra sees disturbing similarities between their cases. The rushed final act brings action that ties up loose ends and explains all. Main characters default to White.
An uneven psychological puzzle. (Thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-30373-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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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