A classic whodunit
The discovery of two bodies yields numerous suspects.
With its unspecified setting, this Canadian import could take place in almost any snowy small town in North America. One night during the Christmas holiday, a police lieutenant’s wife suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disappears and is later found frozen and dead. This unfortunate event is soon overshadowed by an even greater tragedy that same evening: the unexpected murder of high school student Derek Maugham. When it’s discovered that his girlfriend, Jordie, was possibly the last to see him alive—and after a dispute no less—she becomes one of the main suspects. An omniscient narrator focuses on the clues and motives rather than characterization as Jordie (as well as the police) tries to find the real killer. And as she pieces together the whereabouts of her missing bracelet that’s related to the case, she discovers that she’s not the only one with secrets to hide—about both deaths. The teens don’t always sound their age (“how can anything be an anniversary after only one-sixth of an annum?”), but their mature speech, combined with plenty of adult characters, makes this a great crossover novel. The present-tense narration helps keep the mystery taut with concise pacing.
A classic whodunit . (Mystery. 13 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0594-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Regardless, readers will likely be so swept up in the romance they can read past any flaws.
An ultimately compelling exploration of teenage growth and young love.
With her idolized sister Margot leaving for college, Lara Jean doesn’t feel ready for the coming changes: becoming more responsible for their younger sister, Kitty, helping their widowed father, or seeing Margot break up with Josh, the boy next door—whom Lara Jean secretly liked first. But there’s even greater upheaval to come, when Lara Jean’s five secret letters to the boys she’s loved are mailed to them by accident. Lara Jean runs when sweet, dependable Josh tries to talk to her about her letter. And when Peter Kavinsky gets his letter, it brings him back into Lara Jean’s life, all handsome, charming, layered and complicated. They start a fake relationship to help Lara Jean deal with Josh and Peter to get over his ex. But maybe Lara Jean and Peter will discover there’s something more between them as they learn about themselves and each other. It’s difficult to see this book as a love triangle—Josh is bland as oatmeal, and Peter is utterly charismatic. Meanwhile, readers may find that Lara Jean sometimes seems too naïve and rather young for 16—though in many ways, this makes her feel more realistic than many of the world-weary teens that populate the shelves.
Regardless, readers will likely be so swept up in the romance they can read past any flaws. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2670-2
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
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BOOK TO SCREEN
A terrifyingly grounded accounting of the monsters that haunt us.
Grieving a dead parent is made even more unbearable by a zombie outbreak only Zharie seems to notice.
Zharie and her mother were the only Black women on the West Coast Swing dance floor, but after her mother’s death, Zharie is alone in other ways, questioning everything about her mom’s death, especially why no one else noticed she morphed into a zombie as she died. Now Zharie sees zombies everywhere, unsure if everyone else is oblivious, if it’s all a side effect of playing the Cranberries on repeat, or if it’s psychosis brought about by obvious trauma. But when Bo, a charming Black and Vietnamese boy, moves in above the apartment she’s sharing with her emotionally distant aunt, Zharie notices that half of him seems to be a decaying corpse—but only sometimes. The other half is the cute boy she wants to get to know better, if only because he’s an anomaly in this one-sided zombie apocalypse. Zharie narrates this mindfully haunting story with a sharp attention to sensory details, emphasizing the visceral shifts from living to undead and back; for Zharie, being close to Bo, with his soft lips and disarming smile, can quickly become proximity to death, gore, and a pungent stench. Still, she perseveres, learning that zombies are less a threat and more a symbol of heartbreak, but unfortunately there’s more to come as she uncovers the circumstances surrounding her mother’s final days.
A terrifyingly grounded accounting of the monsters that haunt us. (Horror. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-07583-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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