Atmospheric.
Evil lurks in a tiny Louisiana town that has more than its fair share of supernatural power.
Seventeen-year-old Grey and her best friend, Elora, have always been “twin flames,” “lit from the same match,” sharing everything and uncannily alike. In their hometown of La Cachette, a bayou town of 106 known as the Psychic Capital of the World, people often have strange and potent abilities. Despite having vanished several months ago, Elora keeps appearing in Grey’s mind’s eye. These flashes are brief and dark, suggesting that Elora unsuccessfully ran for her life, and Grey’s grief makes the narration more sad than scary. The 10 young people known locally as the Summer Children, including eight other kids who were born between the equinoxes that same year, have already been through a lot; two of them, identical twins, were murdered when they were 4. At first, Grey suspects their killer of Elora’s murder as well, but in the process of digging up clues, she unravels a much more complex situation as well as a blue-eyed stranger who rivals her chain-smoking childhood crush for her sexual interest. La Cachette’s tragic mysteries are suitably intricate, if occasionally confusing, and though the plot drags somewhat in the middle, the hurricane-fueled finale wraps everything up nicely. The setting colors every event in the story with a splash of Southern gothic; it’s perhaps even more of a central character than either Grey or Elora. Main characters are presumably White.
Atmospheric. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-40396-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
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
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
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