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AS RED AS BLOOD

Name: AS RED AS BLOOD
Author: Salla Simukka
ISBN: 978-1477847718

From the Snow White Trilogy series , Vol. 1

by Salla Simukka ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2014

Limned in stark red, white and black, this cold, delicate snowflake of a tale sparkles with icy magic.

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This trilogy opener from a talented young author has a bracing energy that stands up to the most muscular of Scandinavian thrillers and a heroine more than equal to her competition.

Named for Snow White, Lumikki, 17, lives alone in Tampere, Finland, attending a magnet arts school far from her parents and hometown. If her grim childhood still prompts nightmares, it’s also given her important gifts—chief among them, her ability to deflect attention while closely observing those unaware of her. (Lumikki’s sure to draw comparison to Lisbeth Salander, but Peter Høeg’s Smilla is her true sister under the skin.) In her school’s darkroom, she stumbles into (literally) an appalling secret: thousands of dripping euros hung to dry. Despite an evident attempt to cleanse them, they still smell of blood. Within hours, Lumikki’s pulled into a claustrophobic conspiracy with three popular, high-profile students. Meanwhile, a young Russian woman not much older than Lumikki lies dead nearby, at the heart of the mystery into which Lumikki and her classmates are drawn. The starkly powerful opening paragraph of the Grimms’ “Snow White” provides the narrative frame, and it’s no flimsy high concept—rather, Simukka’s onto something: Fairy tales, like mysteries, present uncompromising moral imperatives—no soft, comforting shades of gray for even the youngest readers.

Limned in stark red, white and black, this cold, delicate snowflake of a tale sparkles with icy magic. (Thriller. 13 & up)

Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014

ISBN: 978-1477847718

Page Count: 236

Publisher: Skyscape

Review Posted Online: June 17, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT MYSTERY & THRILLER

- BOOK REVIEW
SISTERLAND
by Salla Simukka ; translated by Owen Frederick Witesman

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THAT'S NOT MY NAME

by Megan Lally ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 26, 2023

A gripping tribute to resilience.

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A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.

A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.

A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)

Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023

ISBN: 9781728270111

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT MYSTERY & THRILLER

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT WE DID TO SURVIVE
by Megan Lally

- BOOK REVIEW
NO PLACE LEFT TO HIDE
by Megan Lally

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EVERY EXQUISITE THING

by Laura Steven ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2026

An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.

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In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.

Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.

An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)