This riveting whodunit delivers a bouquet of teen romance, paranormal and thriller.
In a small backwater town where social standing is everything, 17-year-old Eva discovers being the favorite can be terrifying.
Eva’s family is wealthy and influential, so it’s big news when she’s the victim of a hit-and-run that leaves her severely injured and deeply scarred. While recovering in the hospital, sweet-tempered Eva discovers her new and horrifying ability: When people touch her, she can foresee their deaths. When one of her friends is murdered and left with a message carved in her flesh, it’s clear the killer wants Eva. The book is broken up by chapters in voices other than Eva’s, the most absorbing of which is Judge, a sexually twisted religious zealot obsessed with Eva, who believes he’s communicating with her through the flowers he leaves on his victims. Readers know he’s the killer but not who he is among Eva’s acquaintances. Lifelong friend Nate makes Eva’s heart flutter. He stays handsomely by her side throughout the mounting terror. As the death toll increases, Eva, meek no more, uses her visions in an attempt to stop the murderer’s elaborate plan to possess her. Marr, who generally explores supernatural themes, here pens a tightly choreographed spine-chiller with an intriguing view into the mind of a psychopath.
This riveting whodunit delivers a bouquet of teen romance, paranormal and thriller. (Paranormal thriller/romance. 15-20)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-201119-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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
Only marginally intriguing.
In a remote part of Utah, in a “temple of excellence,” the best of the best are recruited to nurture their talents.
Redemption Preparatory is a cross between the Vatican and a top-secret research facility: The school is rooted in Christian ideology (but very few students are Christian), Mass is compulsory, cameras capture everything, and “maintenance” workers carry Tasers. When talented poet Emma disappears, three students, distrusting of the school administration, launch their own investigation. Brilliant chemist Neesha believes Emma has run away to avoid taking the heat for the duo’s illegal drug enterprise. Her boyfriend, an athlete called Aiden, naturally wants to find her. Evan, a chess prodigy who relies on patterns and has difficulty processing social signals, believes he knows Emma better than anyone. While the school is an insidious character on its own and the big reveal is slightly psychologically disturbing, Evan’s positioning as a tragic hero with an uncertain fate—which is connected to his stalking of Emma (even before her disappearance)—is far more unsettling. The ’90s setting provides the backdrop for tongue-in-cheek technological references but doesn’t do anything for the plot. Student testimonials and voice-to-text transcripts punctuate the three-way third-person narration that alternates among Neesha, Evan, and Aiden. Emma, Aiden, and Evan are assumed to be white; Neesha is Indian. Students are from all over the world, including Asia and the Middle East.
Only marginally intriguing. (Mystery. 15-18)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-266203-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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