A gripping story about marginalized citizens navigating a global pandemic.
The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center, run by private corporation Better Futures, is home to 31 young adults and the harsh, abusive officers who guard them.
When yersinia pestis modernis, a new strain of the medieval plague, rips through the country, leaving death and destruction in its wake, the guards at the Hope Center, indifferent to their teenage charges’ fates, abandon their posts. Left to fend for themselves in a world that forgot about them during a crisis, the kids left behind in a remote part of the Ozarks have to learn how and whom to trust and, above all else, what to do in order to survive. When Leah falls ill, Grace, Emerson, and Logan (who is Leah’s twin sister) work together to keep each other safe as best they can despite facing disease and death. Nonbinary Emerson is grappling with their Catholic faith, and neurodiverse Logan rarely speaks, communicating with Leah using their own invented sign language. The beautifully written, lyrical prose enhances this riveting, fast-paced thriller that may hit very close to home for readers struggling through the Covid-19 pandemic. The alternating first-person narratives and interspersed phone call transcripts keep readers close to the action and occasionally will bring them close to tears. Main characters are White; the supporting characters are racially diverse.
A gripping story about marginalized citizens navigating a global pandemic. (content warning, trans support resource, author's note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7315-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans.
Romantic complications between a trained killer and one of her captors drive this sequel to Watch Me (2025).
Appealing to readers who prefer their romantic dramas to be light on action and heavy on long passages of banter, bitter sibling arguments, and tortured reflections, Mafi continues the tale of Rosabelle Wolff, the flaxen-haired assassin from the dystopic Reestablishment, and magnetic, “impossibly stunning” James Anderson, her nemesis-turned-lover who’s still trying to take down the regime. Now desperate to accomplish several secret missions, Rosa easily escapes from one of The New Republic’s prisons, where she was left in the series opener, and, dressed in “a little kid’s cat onesie,” eludes all pursuers except for James, who can seemingly find her at will. Enigmatic Rosa responds unpredictably to many human contacts—including with violence, temporary death (one of her abilities), or a sudden panic attack. Along with the central pair of rivals and lovers, James’ older brother, Aaron, shares the narration. Bestseller Mafi tucks in several subplots, including, notably, a cameo from Juliette Ferrars, the protagonist of the original Shatter Me series, who’s undergoing a scarily difficult pregnancy. Amid the slowly simmering rising action, the author delivers a revelation and a twist that set up a potential series climax. Some ethnic diversity is present in the supporting cast.
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans. (Dystopian. 14-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063419056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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