Brace for impact readers, this YA thriller holds little back.
A group of teens gets trapped in the woods during a snowstorm in Ross’ YA thriller.
Sam is a senior at Seaside High. She and her brother Stuart, a sophomore, are driving with their friends in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Northern California. They’re headed toward a cabin owned by the family of Gavin, Stuart’s best friend, for a ski weekend. Also in the SUV are Lily, Stuart’s girlfriend; Britney, Seaside’s most popular cheerleader; Hunter, an irrepressible flirt; and Champion the dog. When a snowstorm closes the main road, Hunter suggests a detour. Unfortunately, their vehicle swerves on black ice and lodges in a snow bank. With no cell service, the teens pray that a search party will find them before they run out of food and gas (to heat the truck). Complicating matters is the concussion Lily suffered in the crash. After a night’s sleep, she slips into a coma. In the cramped, stressful environment, the teens’ true selves emerge. Ross offers YA readers genuinely diverse characters, each of whom continues to grow throughout the narrative. Lily is Chinese, Hunter is African American, Britney is a devoted Christian, and Sam is vegetarian. Pop culture mavens will enjoy Stuart’s obsession with what might be lurking outside, like zombies, werewolves, or even ax murderers. As the teens learn, however, “The wilderness has transformed from a non-sentient place into...a stalking predator that lives and breathes and kills.” Before real tragedy strikes, the cast shares in-depth discussions on Black cowboys, fur farming, the value of religion, and much more. Ross is also unafraid to lean into controversial stereotypes—as when Lily says, “I’m not above eating dog”—only to later dismantle them. Sam and Gavin’s romantic backstory, elaborated in flashbacks, adds further emotional urgency to events. The dark finale allows just enough room for a sequel.
Brace for impact readers, this YA thriller holds little back.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68-463109-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Spark Press
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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