Skip.
Wisconsin teen Daniel Byers continues to have strange visions in the conclusion to the trilogy that began with Blur (2014).
Daniel’s visions, or “blurs,” have helped him solve a few crimes, but that doesn’t mean he wants to make a career out of it. Daniel still hopes to get a basketball scholarship to college, and a prestigious basketball camp in Atlanta has offered him a free ride. Daniel and three of his friends head south to the camp, but it doesn’t take long for Daniel to get sidetracked by mysterious agencies that hope to recruit him for a specialized task force crewed by other teens with gifts. Periodic cutaways from Daniel’s story give readers glimpses of these shady maneuverings and then of Daniel’s friends’ efforts to reunite with him. Despite these attempts to raise suspense, plotting is dull and cumbersome, and characterization is slight. Conversations among Daniel and his friends drag out the proceedings. This is seemingly the final book in James’ trilogy, but it comes with none of the pomp and circumstance most finales have. Things just tidily end themselves, leaving readers with the most frustrating feeling of all: the feeling of wasted time.
Skip. (Paranormal thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: May 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5039-3345-3
Page Count: 434
Publisher: Skyscape
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Layered, beautiful, smart and achingly funny. In a word, brilliant.
The thrills continue as Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut, goes into the deepest regions of space in search of his long-lost father.
Jasper is joined by Katie Mulligan and Lily Gefelty for another absurd adventure through time and space. This time, Jasper’s teleporter takes them deep within the Horsehead Nebula, the area of space that contains the secret of Jasper’s origins. Mysterious extraterrestrials travel the globe, abducting random civilians to ask them one question: “Where is Jasper Dash?” Meanwhile, in the footnotes, young Busby Spence reads classic Jasper Dash adventure novels and longs for the return of his own father, fighting in the Pacific theater during World War II. Anderson’s creative mixture of otherworldly adventure and heartfelt emotion is flawless. Nostalgic, hopeful and most importantly playful, the author has crafted a work that expresses all the pleasures of being young and getting lost in the realms of a great book. The novel doesn’t transcend the wacky sci-fi of old that inspired it but rather embraces it and dissects it, celebrating it and exploring why so many people fell in love with these silly worlds and gee-whiz heroes in the first place. Above all, this is a testament to the art of reading, a book that reminds you why you love reading in the first place.
Layered, beautiful, smart and achingly funny. In a word, brilliant. (Science fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5110-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An engrossing blend of murder mystery and family story.
Cameron Weaver’s father tried to kill his mother, and now they are on the run, again.
Cameron and his mother have moved into a “creep house” in Wolf Hollow, a house perhaps haunted and rumored to have been the site of murders and bodies never recovered. What seems to be known is the former owner of the house, Mr. McTavish, was an abusive husband and father, and some believe he murdered his son, wife, and her lover. Cameron seems to see the ghost of young Jacky McTavish, and his active imagination begins concocting murder scenarios, such as bodies wrapped in plastic and hanging from a rafter in the nailed-shut attic. Stratton masterfully constructs a creepy gothic setting, using italicized interior monologue to show Cameron’s mind at odds with himself, and readers will soon suspect that Cameron may well be unhinged as they try to discern what is real and what is the product of Cameron’s “thinking like a lunatic.” A monstrous, stalking father, unhinging nightmares, a ghostly boy, wild dogs, and a moldy basement add creepy deliciousness to a murder mystery and tale of a boy who, in trying to solve a mystery, may just discover what a loving family might be.
An engrossing blend of murder mystery and family story. (Suspense. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4926-0938-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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