A contemplative narrator, a mild mystery.
A North Carolina teen navigates choppy waters when her cousin’s death rocks their small marina town.
Nieman’s novel starts off like a gritty noir, with first-person narrator Maggie Warshauer revealing some of what she knows about her cousin Charisse Swicegood and dropping early hints that she has something to hide. The violent events of the fated night leading up to Charisse’s death unfold as a capable detective pieces together the tragedy. As Maggie’s observations—informed by her fascination with Linnaeus and his classification of species—are carefully revealed, her inner thoughts and statements to others become tangled up, sometimes in less-than-revelatory ways. Truth and rumors surrounding the case are spliced with episodes of Maggie’s ongoing explorations, letters written by her alcoholic father, and snippets of town gossip. Along the way, readers discover more about Maggie’s troubled background and tensions with her “so-called mother,” who left the family. The sense of place is strongly developed, but the characters’ motives are not fleshed out enough to buoy the tension. Maggie’s confidence brims with a mature bravado but often clashes with her negative physical self-descriptions. Themes of sexual awakening are raised; they drip with phrasing that conflates desire, regret, confusion, and fantasy as Maggie wrestles with internalized shame. Maggie and Charisse are White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast.
A contemplative narrator, a mild mystery. (Mystery. 16-18)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64603-179-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Fitzroy Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bulky, balky, talky.
In an updated quest for the Holy Grail, the narrative pace remains stuck in slo-mo.
But is the Grail, in fact, holy? Turns out that’s a matter of perspective. If you’re a member of that most secret of clandestine societies, the Priory of Sion, you think yes. But if your heart belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Grail is more than just unholy, it’s downright subversive and terrifying. At least, so the story goes in this latest of Brown’s exhaustively researched, underimagined treatise-thrillers (Deception Point, 2001, etc.). When Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon—in Paris to deliver a lecture—has his sleep interrupted at two a.m., it’s to discover that the police suspect he’s a murderer, the victim none other than Jacques Saumière, esteemed curator of the Louvre. The evidence against Langdon could hardly be sketchier, but the cops feel huge pressure to make an arrest. And besides, they don’t particularly like Americans. Aided by the murdered man’s granddaughter, Langdon flees the flics to trudge the Grail-path along with pretty, persuasive Sophie, who’s driven by her own need to find answers. The game now afoot amounts to a scavenger hunt for the scholarly, clues supplied by the late curator, whose intent was to enlighten Sophie and bedevil her enemies. It’s not all that easy to identify these enemies. Are they emissaries from the Vatican, bent on foiling the Grail-seekers? From Opus Dei, the wayward, deeply conservative Catholic offshoot bent on foiling everybody? Or any one of a number of freelancers bent on a multifaceted array of private agendas? For that matter, what exactly is the Priory of Sion? What does it have to do with Leonardo? With Mary Magdalene? With (gulp) Walt Disney? By the time Sophie and Langdon reach home base, everything—well, at least more than enough—has been revealed.
Bulky, balky, talky.Pub Date: March 18, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
SEEN & HEARD
A thoroughly original and campy gorefest with a touch of romance; a genre-blending treat.
Sundae Valentine was only 11 when she met Holly Jolly for the first time—the ghostly legend from Wildwood, New Jersey, offered her three wishes that came with a price.
For Sundae, Holly Jolly wasn’t just a monstrous story, but something that changed her entire childhood. Flash forward seven years, and she’s on top of the world: Just named prom queen, she and her cheerleader friends are en route to Wildwood along with the football team for a prom weekend celebration. But this trip brings back memories that pink-haired, blue-eyed, white-presenting Sundae is doing her best to mitigate with drugs, alcohol, and hook-ups (the girls have a Slut Cup competition—the winner is the cheerleader with “the highest body count on prom weekend”). Things start looking up when she meets Lia, whose band is playing a gig at the Wildwood motel where she’s staying, and there’s a spark of connection. But little does Sundae know that Holly Jolly has returned. Crowley’s propulsive and engaging horror story is witty and fun, with its blend of gore and light banter. The legend of Holly Jolly leaves a bit to be desired, unfortunately—it comes across as disjointed in comparison to how well-fleshed-out the rest of the story is. But Lia’s bandmates, Dallas and Edison, frequently allude to horror movie lore, which genre fans will enjoy.
A thoroughly original and campy gorefest with a touch of romance; a genre-blending treat. (Horror. 16-18)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781368101424
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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