A potent, hope-filled exploration of emotional manipulation and a redemption song for survivors of toxic relationships.
Teen girls harmed by the same toxic boy unite to reclaim their power in this modern retelling of “Bluebeard” that marks Australian author McGovern’s U.S. debut.
Georgina and Jude grew up as close friends and neighbors. Their relationship evolved into something more intimate when they entered Milford, an elite rural boarding school that prohibits digital communication. By the time scholarship student Lyssa arrives, joining George as her roommate, the pair have broken up—and Jude’s actions have silenced George, ruining her reputation and making her the subject of gossip. Lyssa, unaware of this background, quickly falls under wealthy Jude’s spell and enters a romantic relationship with him. When students return to campus from a break, they’re shocked to learn that Jude died from a gunshot wound while hunting rabbits on his family’s property. He appears as a ghost to George and Lyssa, becoming an embodiment of their grief. A desperate Lyssa uses self-harm framed as magic to cling to him, while George comes to recognize that Jude is continuing to control them through guilt and intimidation. Only by recognizing this abuse can they free themselves and begin to heal. The ominous landscape heightens the sense of unease, but the leads’ strong voices are the story’s greatest strength; the girls’ dual narration heartbreakingly unpacks their layered emotions as Jude slowly diminishes their sense of selfhood. The main characters present white.
A potent, hope-filled exploration of emotional manipulation and a redemption song for survivors of toxic relationships. (content warning) (Supernatural thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9798217228607
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 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
BOOK REVIEW
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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