An enjoyable, character-driven whodunit.
Four teens get involved with a 1970s Hollywood murder mystery.
Casey, Jacob, Eddie, and Zoe are the anonymous creators behind We’ll Never Tell, a popular YouTube channel which features them sneaking into exciting off-limit sites around Los Angeles. As their senior year comes to an end, they decide to go out with a bang by trespassing and entering the so-called “Valentini murder mansion,” the site of an infamous, presumed 1972 murder-suicide involving two Hollywood darlings. After they get inside, however, they realize the house is not as untouched as it should have been. The night ends with Jacob getting stabbed and bleeding out in one of the rooms while the other three scramble to get out before they’re caught by the police. In the days that follow, Casey—whose own backstory is full of trauma—becomes suspicious that one of her friends may be the culprit and that the truth may be connected to what happened in the past. This fast-paced thriller follows Casey in her attempt to uncover the truth. The narrative also includes some chapters from Jacob’s viewpoint leading to the night of the break-in. While sophisticated readers may figure out the mystery before it is revealed, the historical elements are intriguing, and the characters’ relationships, especially the romance between Jacob and Eddie, are highlights. The book follows a White default; Zoe’s mother is from the Philippines, and Eddie is cued Chinese American. Casey is also queer.
An enjoyable, character-driven whodunit. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780316482332
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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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