Eerie and emotionally resonant.
Two tragedies—and something far stranger—unite two teens.
Six months ago, a violent event in their home claimed the lives of 16-year-old Kennedy Jones’ family. Now she’s staying with her well-meaning uncle and trying to come to terms with what happened on that terrible night. She finds solace in the work of her beloved older brother, Elliot, who used an array of electronics to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. When the program registers a strange signal, she leaves a message on the SETI forums, which eventually leads her to Nolan Chandler, whose older brother, Liam, disappeared while walking his dog at a family picnic two years ago. His parents started a nonprofit that helps find missing children and are consumed with finding Liam; Nolan feels like a ghost in his own home. Nolan has been hunting for evidence of paranormal activity after glimpsing Liam while in the throes of a flu-induced fever dream, and when he picks up an unusual signal in Liam’s room with his EMF reader, it leads him to Kennedy’s message. Eventually, Nolan and Kennedy uncover the sad truth about the horrible events that indelibly shaped their lives. Their search for answers and the bond that forms between them is riveting, and Miranda’s (Fragments of the Lost, 2017, etc.) exploration of how grief transforms us is realistic and sensitively drawn. All main characters are presumed white.
Eerie and emotionally resonant. (Suspense. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-57829-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Unlikely to gain the author any new readers but will appeal to her fans.
Marley, who’s on the cusp of graduating from high school, looks forward to going to college in California, but first, she must endure senior prank week.
What began as a harmless tradition to annoy the hapless school principal has evolved into a more serious series of pranks and dares orchestrated by the five Wilder brothers: Everett, Emmett, Rhett, Garrett, and Truett. Rhett, who’s Marley’s former friend, is leading this year’s pranks and imposing severe consequences on non-participants. When their dare results in tragedy for a group of friends—Marley, Luce, Jesse, and Atlas (Marley’s boyfriend)—they make a pact to keep what happened a secret. Marley continues to be wracked with self-reproach, however, and paranoia and guilt begin to tear the teens’ friendships apart. It’s crucial for readers to approach the book with suspension of disbelief, because the characters sometimes act without clear motivation and at other times seem to understand who’s responsible for events based on very flimsy evidence. The dialogue also becomes repetitive at points. While this may not be Preston’s strongest work, her dedicated followers will find in it the suspenseful approach they love. Luce is cued Latine; Atlas reads Black, and the rest of the characters present white.
Unlikely to gain the author any new readers but will appeal to her fans. (Thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780593704066
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist.
The mother Annabel Price thought was dead returns with a story about where she’s been—but 18-year-old Bel knows she’s lying.
Ever since Rachel Price’s unexplained disappearance 16 years ago, true-crime fans have come up with plentiful theories about what happened. Bel and her family members, who are white, cobbled together lives for themselves after a jury found Bel’s father, Charlie, not guilty of murdering his wife. Beset with medical bills for his elderly father, Charlie recently agreed to participate in a documentary about the unsolved mystery. Black British filmmaker Ramsey Lee is well into the process of interviewing the Prices when his project gets an unanticipated boost after an exhausted, disheveled Rachel staggers back into town. Rachel is eager to resume her role in the family, but the inconsistencies in her accounts raise alarms for Bel. With the help of the youngest member of the filmmaking team, Bel sets out to learn what really happened. Along the way, someone else disappears, and Bel uncovers a tangle of lies that make it impossible for her to trust people she thought she knew. When things come to a head the night of her grandfather’s 85th birthday party, Bel ends up in a race for her life. The last quarter of the novel tears along at a breakneck pace before arriving at a satisfying and unexpected conclusion.
Readers will be captivated by this twisty thriller and its uncompromising protagonist. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593374207
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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