An engrossing, well-plotted third volume that whets the appetite for the series’ finale.
In the third volume of the Solitary Tales, the face of evil shows itself.
The noose is tightening on beleaguered teen Chris Buckley. Previously, he relocated from Chicago to his mother Tara’s hometown of Solitary, N.C.—a major mistake and part of the reason Tara self-medicates with alcohol. Angry and grieving at the sacrificial death of his friend Jocelyn, Chris stabbed the complicit Pastor Marsh in the chest; yet the not-so-right reverend lives on, blissfully delivering his perverted Sunday sermons. In this volume, Chris’s former employer Iris remains missing since her inn, the Crag’s Head, burned to the ground, and fellow student Oli dies from drowning, although Chris fears he was murdered for defecting from the camp of bully Gus Staunch. While attending summer school at Harrington High, Chris befriends an Atlanta transplant, lovely senior Lily, who helps him forget sweet Kelsey Page from his art class. Lily is confident, poised and definitely interested. Although he wants to be a typical teen hanging out with his gorgeous girlfriend, compassionate, conflicted Chris is disturbed by nightmarish visions of people in extreme distress, sometimes covered in blood. The dynamics of his relationship with his tippling mother aren’t making anything better—he’s more or less the parent now—yet he refuses to ask for help from his born-again-Christian dad. In this, the third of four books in the series (the final volume, Hurt, is due for release in 2013), the pacing and plotting have significantly intensified. Tension ratchets up, suggesting that a major showdown of biblical proportions is on the horizon. Several key revelations, including the truth of Chris’s heritage, begin to partially explain the strange brew that is Solitary, and some resolution is reached by novel’s end, although many unanswered questions remain. As in preceding books, Thrasher plumbs multiple layers of teenage Chris’ life: a romantic and potentially sexual relationship with Lily; the claustrophobic creepiness of his adopted hometown and the ongoing mystery of its absentee residents; patriarch Ichor Staunch, whose word is God to the locals; peculiar, pixilated Aunt Alice; and Chris’s own destiny, which intertwines with that of Solitary. At the book’s core is Chris’ escalating moral crisis (the titular “temptation”), well-illustrated by a pricey, enticing gift from the very man he most deeply distrusts. So far, the three volumes have sustained an impressive level of suspense and artfulness; the last chapter should be no different.
An engrossing, well-plotted third volume that whets the appetite for the series’ finale.Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1434764171
Page Count: 432
Publisher: David C. Cook
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dizzying, intimate romance.
Rowan teams up with her academic nemesis to win a citywide scavenger hunt.
Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals in a never-ending game of one-upmanship since freshman year. Now, on the last day of senior year, Rowan hopes to best Neil once and for all as valedictorian, then win Howl, a scavenger hunt with a $5,000 cash prize. She also hopes to sneak away to her favorite romance author’s book signing; no one’s ever respected her passion for the genre, not even her children’s book author/illustrator parents. But Rowan’s named salutatorian, and vengeful classmates plot to end her and Neil’s reign. At first their partnership is purely strategic, but as the pair traverse the city, they begin to open up. Rowan learns that Neil is Jewish too and can relate to both significant cultural touchstones and experiences of casual anti-Semitism. As much as Rowan tries to deny it, real feelings begin to bloom. Set against a lovingly evoked Seattle backdrop, Rowan and Neil’s relationship develops in an absorbing slow burn, with clever banter and the delicious tension of first love. Issues of class, anti-Semitism, and sex are discussed frankly. Readers will emerge just as obsessed with this love story as Rowan is with her beloved romance novels. Rowan’s mother is Russian Jewish and Mexican, and her father is American Jewish and presumably White; most other characters are White.
A dizzying, intimate romance. (author’s note) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4024-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development.
A portal fantasy survivor story from an established devotional writer.
Fourteen-year-old Eva’s maternal grandmother lives on a grand estate in England; Eva and her academic parents live in New Haven, Connecticut. When she and Mum finally visit Carrick Hall, Eva is alternately resentful at what she’s missed and overjoyed to connect with sometimes aloof Grandmother. Alongside questions of Eva’s family history, the summer is permeated by a greater mystery surrounding the work of fictional children’s fantasy writer A.H.W. Clifton, who wrote a Narnialike series that Eva adores. As it happens, Grandmother was one of several children who entered and ruled Ternival, the world of Clifton’s books; the others perished in 1952, and Grandmother hasn’t recovered. The Narnia influences are strong—Eva’s grandmother is the Susan figure who’s repudiated both magic and God—and the ensuing trauma has created rifts that echo through her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter. An early narrative implication that Eva will visit Ternival to set things right barely materializes in this series opener; meanwhile, the religious parable overwhelms the magic elements as the story winds on. The serviceable plot is weakened by shallow characterization. Little backstory appears other than that which immediately concerns the plot, and Eva tends to respond emotionally as the story requires—resentful when her seething silence is required, immediately trusting toward characters readers need to trust. Major characters are cued white.
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development. (author’s note, map, author Q&A) (Religious fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780593194454
Page Count: 384
Publisher: WaterBrook
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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