An intriguing but ultimately lackluster whodunit.
Ten promising young Oklahomans board a yacht to celebrate their induction into a prestigious society—but not all will reach their destination alive.
Naya doesn’t fit in with the wealthy clique of inductees into the Yates Society, but she plans to do her best to enjoy the celebratory cruise to Bermuda anyway. Her fellow passengers include Étienne, her French boyfriend; Taylor, her best friend; Finn, Taylor’s boyfriend; Harvard-bound Amelia; young student teacher Mr. “Call Me Derek” Cunningham; swim team heartthrobs Brett and Gabe; Everly, who writes an online gossip column; and Yana, Naya’s former bestie. Newspaper intern Yana has her own secret motive for being there: An anonymous text tipped her off to a major scandal that she could break open. But when someone turns up dead, Yana’s desire shifts to finding the murderer aboard. The bodies pile up as the yacht encounters stormy waters. Naya and Yana have avoided each other for years, but they’ll have to team up if they want to survive. This locked-room murder mystery is weighed down by weak prose and wooden dialogue. Attempts at humor undermine the sinister subject matter and lend the story an uneven tone. Naya and Yana are well developed as individuals, but the other characters are defined solely by their unlikable traits. Naya is biracial (Black and white), and Yana is Thai American; both reflect on their experiences as the only non-white inductees.
An intriguing but ultimately lackluster whodunit. (Mystery. 13-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780593649305
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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
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