Slasher film fans will want to gather round the fire; others should hike elsewhere. (Horror. 13-adult)
When fictional murders become the blueprints for actual killings, where is the line between imagination and reality?
Sixteen-year-old Maddie Davenport (nicknamed “Saint Maddie” by peers who see her as a goody-goody) and her best friend, Chelsea Park, hike deep into the mountains to camp with friends and family. Away from their comfortable suburban homes, Chelsea goads Maddie into chasing after the group’s attractive trail guide, Caleb. Soon, the quiet wilderness brings out other thrills, such as a rocky relationship between two older teens, smuggled cannabis, and underage drinking. Each night, the group also gathers around the campfire to share spooky stories. In one, mountain men kill intruders on their land by carving antlers into the victims’ foreheads. As campers are mysteriously and gruesomely murdered in ways that mimic the plots of these oral tales, readers will wonder if the group is truly alone in the mountains. Or, is there a serial killer among them? Sarles’ debut focuses heavily on plot, resulting in flat characters. The embedded campfire stories are clearly delineated by chapter titles but clumsily integrated into the rest of the story. Though justified within the world of the novel, the killers’ motives border on cliché. The cast assumes a white default, but Maddie has a biracial (white/Korean) cousin.
Slasher film fans will want to gather round the fire; others should hike elsewhere. (Horror. 13-adult)Pub Date: July 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-51506-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series.
Eighteen-year-old sleuth Stevie Bell is back to investigate another mystery in this stand-alone addition to the Truly Devious series.
Stevie is nursing a broken heart following her recent split from boyfriend David. Fed up with her parents’ lack of understanding and support—they regard her interest in solving murders as “creepy” and “weird”—she announces that she’s not coming home for Christmas. But now she’s at a loose end; spending winter break “alone on murder mountain” at Ellingham Academy, her Vermont boarding school, doesn’t seem ideal. So when the opportunity arises to accompany her close friend Nate to New York City, she willingly agrees. The third-person chapters switch between Stevie’s contemporary experience among a group of eccentric, often-clashing residents of a Manhattan apartment building and a young woman named Blue who becomes entangled in a cult in the 1970s. A trail of clues is laid that Stevie can’t resist following. Readers will be kept guessing how the intertwining storylines fit together until the very end. The novel expands to explore Stevie’s relationships and growth, including her ongoing management of her anxiety disorder. The marvelously clever dialogue, abundance of heart, and witty, memorable, and well-rounded cast elevate this beyond standard mystery fare. Both timelines establish the New York City setting as its own character. Stevie and Blue read white.
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series. (map) (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063256019
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
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