Despite the characters’ refreshingly intersectional diversity, the thrills fall flat.
A murder-mystery role-playing game becomes real when its players gather in a remote mountain cabin.
In their elaborate fantasy world of Gonfalon, five disparate high schoolers can safely be themselves, solving murders and exploring new identities. But now, painful rifts threaten their friendship. As a last-ditch effort to reconcile before heading out into the world, they meet in the Arizona mountains for one last game. But soon, players start dying for real, and the killer knows their worst secrets. Are the ghost stories about the mountain true, or is the killer all too human? In alternating chapters, the teens reflect on their lives while fighting to survive. Finn, a trans boy who has arthritis and walks with forearm crutches, loathes asking for help. Ever, who’s trans and nonbinary, struggles to support their working-class family. Maddy, who’s autistic, grapples with pain and trauma after a car accident. Wealthy Liva is beholden to her family’s expectations, and Carter feels unappreciated. Author Nijkamp, who identifies as queer, disabled, and nonbinary, thoughtfully examines the intricacies of neurodivergence, chronic pain, addiction, and belonging. Unfortunately, repetitive, expository narration bogs down the pacing and diminishes suspense. Characters are distinguished more by their respective challenges than by full-fledged personalities, and dialogue is often stilted. However, Ever and Finn’s romance is touching. The teens are White.
Despite the characters’ refreshingly intersectional diversity, the thrills fall flat. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3611-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements.
A wary teen wonders if she should run when people come looking for her.
Lucy Smith was raised by her white father, who said little about her mother. Following his death and her stepmother’s abandonment, Lucy entered the foster care system at 14. Her stepmother revealed that Lucy’s birth mom was Native American, but her social worker urged her to keep that quiet. Battered by her time in the foster care system, it’s no wonder that 18-year-old Lucy is cautious when she’s approached by a man who says he’s an attorney who helps Native American foster kids connect with their families and communities. He introduces her to a friend who reveals to Lucy that she knows her Ojibwe maternal relatives—but a wary Lucy refuses her offer to learn more. Someone is stalking her, after all, and the FBI is investigating the bomb that went off in the diner where she worked—an event she’s sure targeted her. This stand-alone from bestseller Boulley, who’s an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, includes characters her fans will recognize from previous works. The action scenes are mediated by ruminations on the failings of the foster care system and strong portrayals of Lucy’s relationship with her father and her complicated identity. Ardent book lover Lucy is a sympathetic narrator whose strong sense of justice is coupled with a deep acceptance of others.
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements. (content warning, author’s note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328533
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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