A riveting novel with indelible, sympathetic characters battling vicious bloodsuckers.
In Ross’ supernatural tale, a music-festival weekend turns into a fight for survival when vampires attack.
Alix Summerlin plans to spend three days partying at the Garlic Groove Music Festival in Oregon. She’s with a small group from Nevada State University including her best friend, Zoe Danvers, and her heartbroken ex, Logan Ward, whom Alix dumped just days prior when he brought up marriage. In the midst of loud music, beer, and a bong hit or two, a stranger wearing black catches Alix’s eye. He’s Kade, the “handsomest person” she’s ever seen, and an enigma; he seems indifferent to Alix, a beautiful young woman who’s grown accustomed to guys fawning over her. But the festival crowd suddenly erupts into panic, and people start disappearing. Vampires, Alix and friends quickly learn, have targeted the festival-goers, devouring some and capturing others. The NSU pals, along with Kade and a local named Ethan “Frog” Park (who knows quite a bit about vamps in the area), search for a refuge before they become someone’s next meal. Ross immediately sets the mood for this horror-themed outing as multiple characters ominously warn Alix to be careful. The vibrant cast demonstrates distinctive personalities: Alix is considered an “Ice Queen” for ruthlessly breaking off relationships, Zoe is the group’s much-needed peacekeeper, and Frog provides helpful vampiric intel (like the three “stages” of vampires’ formidability). Punctuated by bursts of action, much of the narrative unfolds like an apocalypse has already hit as the once-blaring festival grows “eerily silent” and Alix and others pass farms with no humans or animals in sight. This approach makes for a slow pace, leaving plenty of time for potential romance between Alix and Kade to develop. Things really pick up in the final act, courtesy of one person’s courage and several plot turns that, while exciting, are also predictable.
A riveting novel with indelible, sympathetic characters battling vicious bloodsuckers.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780988256866
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Ic13 Books
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pulpy throwback that shines a light on abuses even magic can’t erase.
Hung out to dry by the elders who betrayed them, a squad of pregnant teens fights back with old magic.
Hendrix has a flair for applying inventive hooks to horror, and this book has a good one, chock-full with shades of V.C. Andrews, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Foxfire, to name a few. Our narrator, Neva Craven, is 15 and pregnant, a fate worse than death in the American South circa 1970. She’s taken by force to Wellwood House in Florida, a secretive home for unwed mothers where she’s given the name Fern. She’ll have the baby secretly and give it up for adoption, whether she likes it or not. Under the thumb of the house’s cruel mistress, Miss Wellwood, and complicit Dr. Vincent, Neva forges cautious alliance with her fellow captives—a new friend, Zinnia; budding revolutionary Rose; and young Holly, raped and impregnated by the very family minister slated to adopt her child. All seems lost until the arrival of a mysterious bookmobile and its librarian, Miss Parcae, who gives the girls an actual book of spells titled How To Be a Groovy Witch. There’s glee in seeing the powerless granted some well-deserved payback, but Hendrix never forgets his sweet spot, lacing the story with body horror and unspeakable cruelties that threaten to overwhelm every little victory. In truth, it’s not the paranormal elements that make this blast from the past so terrifying—although one character evolves into a suitably scary antagonist near the end—but the unspeakable, everyday atrocities leveled at children like these. As the girls lose their babies one by one, they soon devote themselves to secreting away Holly and her child. They get some help late in the game but for the most part they’re on their own, trapped between forces of darkness and society’s merciless judgement.
A pulpy throwback that shines a light on abuses even magic can’t erase.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780593548981
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
