A fast-moving, cross-genre tale of courage with imaginative tech.
An English teen uses dangerous new technology to save her abducted parents in this YA thriller.
Amelia Wainwright has become increasingly withdrawn since her father disappeared a year ago. The 13-year-old even earns herself a weeklong suspension from school. But a surprise awaits her in her father’s study, where she and bestie Sebastian discover a hidden room and learn her father’s a secret agent. He left behind a stack of files, which a suddenly appearing stranger demands Amelia hand over. By sheer chance, Amelia gets a hold of that person’s tech—a glowing watch that can transform its wearer into any animal. It’s soon clear that Celine, the criminal mastermind Amelia’s father had been chasing, is holding both her parents hostage in Cairo. With help from her father’s agency, the International Covert Intelligence Directorate, Amelia and Sebastian search for the Wainwrights. Meanwhile, that smartwatch, which can’t simply be removed, keeps Amelia under constant risk of permanently becoming whatever animal she’s transformed into. Golding’s young hero is likable from the beginning. Even when she’s getting into trouble, she’s never disrespectful. She and equally winsome Sebastian are bright and versatile, although they do rely heavily on “futuristic-looking gadgets.” Those gadgets, along with the morph-inducing watch, nearly puts the novel into SF-fantasy realm. This concise story also boasts thriller elements. Amelia and Sebastian attempt to evade Celine’s nefarious agents, with personable Cairo locals lending support. Entertainingly, Amelia becomes an assortment of real-life animals, including a cat and an elephant. The final act delivers a few twists, amping up excitement even further. As this novel launches a prospective series, readers can look forward to the leads returning for more escapades.
A fast-moving, cross-genre tale of courage with imaginative tech.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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