A high-stakes thriller exploring the dark depths of online obsession.
Making TikTok videos has never been more dangerous.
Nora Monahan is an introspective teen living in her father’s bunker in rural Washington state, following his strict rules as he prepares for “a new apocalypse.” Nora’s only solace is Shea Davison’s TikTok channel; along with over 900,000 other followers, Nora watches Shea dance and share videos about her life. But Shea, who radiates positivity online, faces challenges that she doesn’t post to TikTok, including trying to salvage a rocky relationship with best friend turned future stepsibling Delancey Renard, who uses they/them pronouns. Nora’s obvious obsession with Shea’s channel escalates, and when she learns that Shea will be making an appearance at the Washington State Fair, she hatches a plan that culminates in a kidnapping, which Nora frames as a “partnership” that will help her “learn from an expert—my idol” while offering the influencer “something fresh” for her channel. The only person able to save Shea is the one she’s been most afraid of losing. Delancey, with help from Shea’s dance friends, will need to convince the authorities that Shea’s life is really at stake. This suspenseful page-turner is narrated in turns by Nora, Shea, and Delancey, who are minimally described and racially ambiguous. Fans of Natasha Preston will enjoy the twisty plot. Some use of ableist terms hints at possible mental illness that is not explored in the story.
A high-stakes thriller exploring the dark depths of online obsession. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781339002880
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
A lukewarm thriller.
In England, a group of teenagers tries to stay alive when a long weekend in an abandoned castle goes wrong.
When Bessie and her friends decide to join a party their classmate Allegra is throwing in her family’s abandoned castle before it’s converted into apartments, they think the biggest issues they’ll face are making it there before a big storm hits and keeping their plans secret from their parents and teachers. Once they arrive at the castle, however, Bessie and best friend Kashvi discover menacing graffiti and evidence that someone has been staying in the cellar. They also learn that protestors from the nearby village are angry about the development plans for the castle—one of them even argues that it would be better to burn it down. A handful of classmates manage to get there before the storm gets too severe. But when the teens wake up the next day to discover one of their own dead, and the storm makes it impossible for them to leave, they quickly realize that they’re in danger. But is the killer one of the members of the Facebook protestors’ group…or one of their own? Despite the book’s intriguing setup, the prose is dominated by repetitive conversations that convey little substance. Still, readers may still find themselves propelled forward by a need to discover the identity of the murderer. The central cast is racially diverse.
A lukewarm thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593704080
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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