A fast-paced sequel with a few killer twists.
The price of fame can be lethal in the edgy follow-up to 2019’s Fake Plastic Girl.
Sixteen-year-old Eva-Kate Kelly was stabbed only once with a ceremonial Wiccan dagger, and her body was found in the canal just outside her Venice, California, home. Unfortunately, Justine Childs’ fingerprints are all over the athame, and she’s arrested for murder. Justine’s parents hire a brilliant defense attorney, but while she’s awaiting trial, Justine decides to do a little investigating of her own, hoping to clear her name and desperate to know what really happened to Eva-Kate. There are more than a few people with motives for murder, but all Justine really learns is that Eva-Kate was hiding even more dark secrets than she suspected. For the assistant district attorney, Eva-Kate and Justine’s twisted tale of mutual obsession is the perfect storm, and the hard-drinking, pill-popping Justine’s history of mental illness works against her. Even worse, though she’s only 16, she’s to be tried as an adult. Eva-Kate had more fame than she could handle, and Justine desperately wanted just a bit of it for herself, but does that mean she was capable of murder? First-person narrator Justine, who steadily falls apart without Eva-Kate’s attention to sustain her, is the perfect vessel for Lisbon’s exploration of how tightly fame and infamy are entwined, and the courtroom scenes crackle with tension. Main characters are white by default.
A fast-paced sequel with a few killer twists. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-15631-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging
Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s.
The story immediately brings Audrey into a fractious pairing with her uncle’s young assistant, Thomas Cresswell. The two engage in predictable rounds of “I’m smarter than you are” banter, while Audrey’s older brother, Nathaniel, taunts her for being a girl out of her place. Horrific murders of prostitutes whose identities point to associations with the Wadsworth estate prompt Audrey to start her own investigation, with Thomas as her sidekick. Audrey’s narration is both ponderous and polemical, as she sees her pursuit of her goals and this investigation as part of a crusade for women. She declares that the slain aren’t merely prostitutes but “daughters and wives and mothers,” but she’s also made it a point to deny any alignment with the profiled victims: “I am not going as a prostitute. I am simply blending in.” Audrey also expresses a narrow view of her desired gender role, asserting that “I was determined to be both pretty and fierce,” as if to say that physical beauty and liking “girly” things are integral to feminism. The graphic descriptions of mutilated women don’t do much to speed the pace.
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging . (Historical thriller. 15-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27349-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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