An intriguing supernatural concept with distracting narrative execution.
Mendocino, California, conceals many secrets—and maybe magic too.
High school junior Zayn Pereira, whose dad is from Afghanistan and late mum was from Australia, arrives in Mendocino in a daze. She’s haunted by her uncle’s fatal bike accident and is struggling to care for her 7-year-old sister, Mania, while feeling resigned to her father’s distant affect. The story drops readers right into Zayn’s life, hinting only slightly at the secrets both she and her new Northern California town are hiding. The community is reeling from a teenage girl’s unsolved disappearance, and Tiago Rodriguez, a Mexican and Chilean American boy who’s the first person Zayn connects with, is a prime suspect. The story’s tone shifts dramatically when Zayn employs her supernatural gift to save Tiago following a hit-and-run: Pressing their palms together, Zayn uses her hand, which glows with healing orange lines, to absorb his pain into her body and heal his broken leg. For years, she’d “kept away from the scraped, the bleeding, the broken. Until now.” Things go sideways between Zayn and dark forces controlling the town as she discovers that generations of locals have been locked in a violent conflict. The premise is compelling, and many scenes, especially those set on Rainsong, a purportedly haunted nearby island, are deliciously terrifying. But the dialogue-heavy first-person narration struggles to match the story’s ambitious aims, distracting from the cinematic, high-stakes thriller elements.
An intriguing supernatural concept with distracting narrative execution. (Speculative thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9780593810286
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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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