No fire here, just fizzle.
Two teens' long-standing conflict culminates in an aborted school shooting in this bloated debut.
ADD pothead Steven Crashinsky and evil genius David Burnett have been best frenemies since Burn almost blew up their elementary school—with Crash in it. Circling each other uneasily throughout their school careers, they always come back together when tragedy strikes, as when Crash's parents divorce or Burn's mother dies. Both believe that they are somehow connected by fate or magic, and both are fixated on Burn's doomed sister, Roxanne, who is the dubious object of Crash’s affection. Hassan sacrifices storytelling for voice, which might work if this overwritten novel were half as long. It feels as though the author has thrown everything at this plot but the kitchen sink. There is a sadistic teacher, a sadistic father, multiple suicide attempts, Thanksgiving Day family meltdowns, deaths from cancer, 9/11 and overdoses, copious pot smoking, a gun pulled in a parking lot and a teen sex video. The effect is numbing, especially when related in Crash’s obvious, dense, blow-by-blow first person. Most readers will have zoned out by the time the author finally gets around to the novel's nonclimactic climax.
No fire here, just fizzle. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-211290-3
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Everyone’s a suspect in this thrilling tale that armchair sleuths will enjoy untangling.
A twisty whodunit set against the backdrop of a town haunted by a deadly curse.
High school senior Eden Stafford didn’t want to attend the all-night party at Fairport Village, the scene of several grisly murders of teens over the decades. But she and her mom need the money; ever since her dad fled to avoid embezzlement charges, finances have been tight, so she agrees to work as an assistant to her friend Henry, who’s filming a documentary at the ruined seaside resort for a film school application. When Henry’s dead body is found, followed by that of classmate Diego, Eden realizes that the old curse is killing kids again. She reluctantly teams up with Caleb, her former best friend who turned into her bully, and his clique to work out what really happened to the first victim, Nicolas—and what his death has to do with whoever or whatever is stalking them now. Ichaso provides an impressive roster of suspects, keeping Eden (and readers!) on guard as the mystery plays out. Eden’s growing feelings for Caleb complicate her investigation even as she deals with past hurt and recriminations that add layers of emotion and suspicion. The town’s history is entertaining, and the crimes’ dual timelines allow for extra sleuthing. The crumbling California resort setting is vividly depicted. Most characters present white.
Everyone’s a suspect in this thrilling tale that armchair sleuths will enjoy untangling. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781728299709
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
This tale moves beyond the boom-bang, boring theology of so many fantasies—and, in the process, creates, almost griotlike, a...
Taj, the black teenage narrator of Onyebuchi’s debut, is an aki, or sin-eater—meaning that he literally consumes the exorcised transgressions of others, usually in the forms of inky-colored animal-shaped phantasms called inisisas that reappear as black tattoos on the akis’ “red skin, brown skin.”
This really isn’t his most remarkable trait, however, even as he ingests greater and greater sins of the Kaya, the brown-skinned royal family ruling the land of Kos. What makes Taj extraordinary is the tensions he holds: his blasé awareness of his exalted status as the best aki, even as the townspeople both shun yet exploit him and his chosen family of sin-eaters; his adolescent swagger coupled with the big-brotherly protectiveness he has for the crew of akis and, as the story proceeds, his increasing responsibility to train them; his natural skepticism of the theology that guides Kos even as he performs the very act that allows the theology—and Kos itself—to exist. He must navigate these in the midst of a political plot, a burgeoning star-crossed love, and forgiveness for the sins he does not commit. “Epic” is an overused term to describe how magnificent someone or something is. Author Onyebuchi’s novel creates his in the good old-fashioned way: the slow, loving construction of the mundane and the miraculous, building a world that is both completely new and instantly recognizable.
This tale moves beyond the boom-bang, boring theology of so many fantasies—and, in the process, creates, almost griotlike, a paean to an emerging black legend . (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-448-49390-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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