By turns bewildering, nightmarish, and heart-wrenching.
A teen battles mysterious forces upon returning to her childhood home.
Plagued by nightmares, visions, and strange events—and inexplicably detested by everyone she meets—17-year-old Helen Vaughan has been a pariah ever since she and her mother left Harrow, their ancestral home, 10 years ago. When her grandfather’s death compels her return, Helen is stunned to learn that she stands to inherit Harrow…if she can survive a year living in a house that seems to have a malevolent mind of its own. As Helen’s dreams of being buried intensify and she learns of Harrow’s troubling history of mysterious deaths and missing girls, her health crumbles in visceral, horrifying ways. Something doesn’t want her to learn Harrow’s secrets. Is it the house’s dark entity, expressed through misshapen monsters and ghostly figures? Or is it someone from her estranged family, whose members harbor grudges and grief? Aided by her cousins, Desmond and Celia, and an aloof, enigmatic witch named Bryony, Helen makes a devastating discovery that threatens everything she knows. At times, the plot is as convoluted as Harrow’s shifting halls; readers will share Helen’s increasing disorientation. However, those with a taste for tough questions will find many to ponder in this creepy, poignant tale: What makes a family? Are people born evil? Helen and Bryony’s tentative romance lightens the gloom. Most characters are cued as White; Desmond is Black.
By turns bewildering, nightmarish, and heart-wrenching. (author's note) (Paranormal suspense. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-40511-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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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