A fun, witty, and innovative contemporary fantasy adventure.
In White’s horror-fantasy novel, a vampire livestreamer and his allies look into multiple murders and stumble upon a supernatural conspiracy to end the world as he knows it.
Jade Mourning is a 2,000-year-old fanged creature of the night, living in an Atlanta estate with other online influencers, when he becomes a suspect in a series of mysterious murders. When the clues rule Mourning out, the vampire and Atlanta police Det. Standmoore Owens, along with Mourning’s vampire ally (a woman namedMoreland), join forces to investigate. They soon discover that the culprits are feral vampires known as Wurdulacs. Soon, the unlikely trio uncover a larger plan that could result in the extinction of humans and vampires alike. A solution may lie in unlocking vampires’ genetic code; notably, Mourning encounters a world-renowned geneticist, Dr. Chua Mi Tien, after accidentally teleporting to Singapore. Mourning’s interpersonal relationships are complex; his primary love interest is a human named Daphne, who appears in his livestreams but thinks his vampirism is an act (“When I met Daphne, I was consumed by darkness. She lit me up”). Moreland pursues Mourning, as well, but her attempts to woo him fall short, due to her role in the apparent deaths of his wife and child during a raid of their city in the 1300s. Mourning must also win over Det. Owens, who despises vampires. The story ends with two main characters set to travel abroad on a search for another who’s disappeared. White’s novel may remind readers of Felicia Day’s limited-series podcast Third Eye (2023), in all the best ways. Although some scenes suggest a more mature intended audience, the novel otherwise reads like a teenage dream, abounding with modern references to such pastimes as Twitch and League of Legends. The main character starts off in a place that many might find admirable: He’s famous, rich, talented, and has supernatural powers and multiple romantic options. This sort of status can stagnate a character’s growth, but White has Mourning follow an enticing arc, while also exploring important themes of forgiveness, salvation, and friendship.
A fun, witty, and innovative contemporary fantasy adventure.Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2023
ISBN: 979-8871677261
Page Count: 417
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.
A disturbing household secret has far-reaching consequences in this dark, unusual ghost story.
Mallory Quinn, fresh out of rehab and recovering from a recent tragedy, has taken a job as a nanny for an affluent couple living in the upscale suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey, when a series of strange events start to make her (and her employers) question her own sanity. Teddy, the precocious and shy 5-year-old boy she's charged with watching, seems to be haunted by a ghost who channels his body to draw pictures that are far too complex and well formed for such a young child. At first, these drawings are rather typical: rabbits, hot air balloons, trees. But then the illustrations take a dark turn, showcasing the details of a gruesome murder; the inclusion of the drawings, which start out as stick figures and grow increasingly more disturbing and sophisticated, brings the reader right into the story. With the help of an attractive young gardener and a psychic neighbor and using only the drawings as clues, Mallory must solve the mystery of the house's grizzly past before it's too late. Rekulak does a great job with character development: Mallory, who narrates in the first person, has an engaging voice; the Maxwells' slightly overbearing parenting style and passive-aggressive quips feel very familiar; and Teddy is so three-dimensional that he sometimes feels like a real child.
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81934-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Vintage King: a pleasure for his many fans and not a bad place to start if you’re new to him.
The master of supernatural disaster returns with four horror-laced novellas.
The protagonist of the title story, Holly Gibney, is by King’s own admission one of his most beloved characters, a “quirky walk-on” who quickly found herself at the center of some very unpleasant goings-on in End of Watch, Mr. Mercedes, and The Outsider. The insect-licious proceedings of the last are revisited, most yuckily, while some of King’s favorite conceits turn up: What happens if the dead are never really dead but instead show up generation after generation, occupying different bodies but most certainly exercising their same old mean-spirited voodoo? It won’t please TV journalists to know that the shape-shifting bad guys in that title story just happen to be on-the-ground reporters who turn up at very ugly disasters—and even cause them, albeit many decades apart. Think Jack Torrance in that photo at the end of The Shining, and you’ve got the general idea. “Only a coincidence, Holly thinks, but a chill shivers through her just the same,” King writes, “and once again she thinks of how there may be forces in this world moving people as they will, like men (and women) on a chessboard.” In the careful-what-you-wish-for department, Rat is one of those meta-referential things King enjoys: There are the usual hallucinatory doings, a destiny-altering rodent, and of course a writer protagonist who makes a deal with the devil for success that he thinks will outsmart the fates. No such luck, of course. Perhaps the most troubling story is the first, which may cause iPhone owners to rethink their purchases. King has gone a far piece from the killer clowns and vampires of old, with his monsters and monstrosities taking on far more quotidian forms—which makes them all the scarier.
Vintage King: a pleasure for his many fans and not a bad place to start if you’re new to him.Pub Date: April 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3797-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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