A harrowing tale of desire, despair, and the devil.
Four teens attempt to outsmart both the devil and his human servants in this sinister Southern gothic horror novel by debut author Kaur.
In the small town of Carrion, Georgia, when the cicadas emerge every 13 years, people vanish—townsfolk and tourists alike. Rumors say that the town’s founder made a deal with the devil to ensure prosperity, but the devil demanded a sacrifice in return. Now the wealthy enjoy the spoils of life in the gated community of Lake Clearwater, while most inhabitants of Carrion struggle. This year Dawson Sumter, a local boy from the wrong side of the tracks, has gone missing, leaving behind only a mess of blood and a key ring. Drawn together by a confluence of circumstances, musician and motel worker Neera Singh, Harvard-bound podcaster Isaiah Johnson, long-suffering yet devoted eldest daughter Sam Calhoun, and descendant of Carrion’s founder Reid Langley team up to investigate Dawson’s disappearance. What they find is an ominous decades-old secret, exposing the town’s systemic inequalities and throwing all of them in harm’s way. Atmospheric and tense, this detail-rich slow-burn horror novel has death and destruction embedded throughout. The humid Georgia summer setting provides an intense backdrop, acting as a character in and of itself. The four protagonists are well-developed, seriously flawed yet utterly understandable. Most characters are coded white. Neera’s Punjabi family is from the U.K., and Isaiah is Black.
A harrowing tale of desire, despair, and the devil. (author’s note) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781250357175
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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
An affecting supernatural mystery with a pair of brave protagonists.
The disappearance of a child unveils what lies hiding in the woods at the edge of a small town.
There are all sorts of stories about Picnic, Illinois, but it’s not until her toddler cousin, Madison, goes missing from her crib one night that 15-year-old Luce starts to believe them—and especially when she notices a pair of glowing, wolflike eyes through the windows of her house. To everybody’s relief, Madison is returned to her crib, seemingly safe and sound, soon after she vanished, but Luce and the child’s mother notice discomfiting differences in the 2-year-old. And yet, no one else seems to give credence to their concerns. Luce, prompted by a teacher, starts to research Picnic’s history and the many disappearances—and sudden reappearances—of baby girls, going back decades. Meanwhile, deep in the woods, Fanya, who narrates alternating chapters, tends to the baby girl and prepares for the ritual to welcome her as part of her pack when the full moon comes. As Luce’s and Fanya’s stories converge, so do past and present in Lund’s atmospheric novel. The story borrows elements from South Slavic lore about women who turn into animals to tell an affecting tale about small-town secrets, wronged people, and the bravery of two girls bent on getting to the truth in order to save lives. All characters are assumed White.
An affecting supernatural mystery with a pair of brave protagonists. (Paranormal thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35109-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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