Creepy and suspenseful but ultimately dissatisfying.
Mysterious small-town lore haunts an ailing teen’s relocation to the mountains.
Lola Boyd is devastated to leave her small Michigan hometown as well as her best friend, Bryn, who’s nonbinary, for a new start in Claret Creek, Colorado. Her mom has remarried the unlikable Kurt (“my new step-dick’s superpower is the ability to make me feel invisible—even when the conversation is about me”), and at his urging the three are pursuing a new adventure. They’re moving into Boyd Manor, Lola’s late father’s childhood home, which she’s set to inherit when she turns 25. Lola’s battle with a debilitating and hard-to-explain chronic illness worsens when she arrives in Claret Creek, and she starts to experience otherworldly hallucinations that seem to be channeling people’s memories and revealing moments from the town’s past. New friends Clare, Sage, Emory, and Fletcher offer Lola help in understanding her mysterious family connection to Claret Creek’s history, which involves revered local physician Dr. Clarett and an alleged witch who had a connection to Boyd Manor. Although the cliffhanger chapter endings build suspense throughout, inconsistent characterization hinders the believability of the cast members’ motives. The complex events of the past, which are explored by the contemporary characters, lead to a neatly wrapped up conclusion that strains credulity. Most characters present white, and siblings Sage and Clare are Latine.
Creepy and suspenseful but ultimately dissatisfying. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9780593621431
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
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
A gripping tribute to resilience.
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.
A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.
A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781728270111
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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