An unevenly executed but often engaging supernatural thriller with elements of comedy.
In Reefe’s horror novel, a teenage girl possessed by a demon battles a local legend known as the Goatman.
The story begins in Bowie, Maryland, in the fall of 1988. Kate Dwyer starts having disturbing dreams around the same time that her new neighbor, Maya Suárez Martinez, moves into an abandoned house that used to belong to a serial killer called the the Butcher of Bowie; some believe that the killer is a boogeyman-like monster called the Goatman. It turns out that a demon named Raga is inhabiting Kate’s body; Maya, who’s a witch, helps her navigate her relationship with the demon possessing her using her own magical knowledge, charms, and family’s spell book. Then Steve and Chris, Kate’s brothers, return to town, and it’s revealed that they’re monster hunters. With her friends, Theresa Petruzzo and Jackie Engert, they investigate the Glenn Dale hospital and take on a monster called the Bunnyman. Afterward, Jackie and Kate’s crush, Jake Shaw, go missing, and Kate’s investigation reveals that Jake has been looking into the Goatman case on his own. The story eventually involves another powerful demon; the young monster-hunting crew, with the help of Raga and Maya, are soon on a multistep mission to destroy it. However, a few twists occur that make their quest far more difficult than expected. Reefe’s novel stars a colorful assortment of heroic and villainous characters, including a sassy protagonist, a highly perceptive witch, and a Twinkie-loving demon. The dialogue throughout the novel is sometimes quite funny, especially when the teenagers’ mannerisms begin to rub off on the demonic Raga: “That ghost was pissed”; “Your brother has serious issues.” However, the complicated plot can feel a bit muddled at times, and readers may find it difficult to follow due to its pacing, which proceeds at a brisk clip.
An unevenly executed but often engaging supernatural thriller with elements of comedy.Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781627205344
Page Count: 342
Publisher: Apprentice House
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A weird, wild ride.
Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.
Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels—Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.
A weird, wild ride.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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