Compulsively readable and brilliant.
A rare look at the youth-led rebellion that toppled Romania’s Ceaușescu.
Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu, with his spiky hair, love of poetry and English, and crush on Liliana Pavel, is as much of a rebel as it’s possible to be in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu has been in power for 24 years, and most Romanians live in poverty, exporting what they produce to unknowingly fund Ceaușescu’s obscenely extravagant lifestyle. Wild dogs attack children in the streets, and secret agents are everywhere. When an agent confronts Cristian with evidence of treason—a single dollar bill tucked inside his notebook—and also offers medicine for Bunu, his sick grandfather, Cristian agrees to spy on the American diplomat family whose son he’s become friendly with. But as young Romanians gradually become aware that other countries have gained freedom from communism, they rise up in an unconquerable wave. Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Told from Cristian’s point of view, intercut by secret police memos and Cristian’s own poetry, the novel crackles with energy; Cristian and his friends join the groundswell of young Romanians, combining pragmatism, subterfuge, hope, and daring. While the story ends with joy on Christmas Day, the epilogue recounts the betrayals and losses that follow. The last line will leave readers gasping.
Compulsively readable and brilliant. (maps, photos, author's note, research notes, sources) (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-984836-03-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Fans of thrillers and stories about small-town secrets will be turning the pages late into the night.
A group of friends learn that secrets can be dangerous when a mysterious stalker turns their lives upside down.
Former child star Sam and friends Haran, Dom, Elisha, and Lauren have a Halloween ritual: They go to a hut in the woods near their hometown of Hayschurch and take turns inside it confessing their darkest secrets. They always leave feeling better, but this year someone overhears them and starts tormenting each member of the group: throwing blood-filled eggs at the hut, sending menacing texts, leaving dolls’ heads in their lockers, and surreptitiously following and taking videos of them. One of the videos includes an image of the mystery sender wearing a creepy mask, and Sam is sure he’s seen it before. Once he remembers the connection, the teens realize that their situation is part of something bigger and darker going back long before they were born. The friends show a great deal of ingenuity as they investigate the few clues they have to work with. Genuinely suspenseful scenes keep the tension ratcheting up, and short chapters, plenty of well-timed twists, and an unexpected ending make this a quick, satisfying read, though readers may question whether the teens’ secrets are really terrible enough to justify the lengths they go to protect them. Contextual details point to a British setting, and names offer the only clues to ethnicity.
Fans of thrillers and stories about small-town secrets will be turning the pages late into the night. (Thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250882158
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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