Immensely and terrifyingly satisfying from beginning to end.
A cutthroat competition becomes haunting.
It’s been two years since Mina Park, Sunny Lee’s best friend, died, and although her death was ruled a suicide, Sunny was there that night. While she’s not sure exactly what happened, she knows something much darker was going on. Mina’s passing, following a scandal around leaked nude photos, was the final blow to Sweet Cadence, their all-girl Asian American pop group. After descending into obscurity and relocating to Atlanta from Los Angeles, Sunny is ready to try a workshop that offers a chance at K-pop stardom. She’s also motivated by the chance it offers to be face to face with Candie Tsai, who will also be participating. Former close friend and bandmate Candie was also there when Mina died. Seemingly flawless Candie has the perfect idol persona, but Sunny knows she is dangerous—and that she knows what really happened to Mina. Sunny will do everything in her power to get to the truth. As the days blend together, Sunny’s night terrors become reality, and strange things start happening to the girls in the program—and it all leads back to Candie. The narrative is haunting and magnetic, and an example of masterfully executed psychological horror that readers will find difficult to put down. True to its title, the gore is disturbing. Sunny’s parents are from Taiwan and Hong Kong; Candie’s family came from China, and Mina was Korean American.
Immensely and terrifyingly satisfying from beginning to end. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781250864994
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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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