A quick, engrossing pick that’s ideal for reluctant readers.
A teenage boy inadvertently crosses dangerous people in this pulse-pounding thriller.
Jake Ballard, a military kid and recent high school graduate, is spending the summer at his uncle’s lake house in the resort town of Sicamous, British Columbia, while he figures out his next move. Everyone assumes he’ll join the military, but with a soldier father who was killed in action when Jake was 4 and an Army medical technician mother who’s currently undergoing treatment for PTSD for combat-related trauma, he isn’t sure that’s the life he wants. When mysterious redhead Angela Wintar shows up, asking for help with playing a prank on her friends, Jake decides that assisting her would be a good way to take his mind off his troubles. Unfortunately for Jake, Angela’s intentions are less innocent than he imagined, and he soon finds himself entangled with the angry criminal associate of a local biker gang who’s demanding retribution for what he believes the two teens stole from them. With his family in danger, Jake must find the courage to fight back and fix this fraught situation. Short chapters and thrilling action scenes render this book compulsively readable, while the dialogue is realistic and snappy. Readers will relate to Jake as he wrestles with his family’s military history and with the expectations that he’ll continue it. Main characters are coded white.
A quick, engrossing pick that’s ideal for reluctant readers. (Thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781459839625
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging
Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s.
The story immediately brings Audrey into a fractious pairing with her uncle’s young assistant, Thomas Cresswell. The two engage in predictable rounds of “I’m smarter than you are” banter, while Audrey’s older brother, Nathaniel, taunts her for being a girl out of her place. Horrific murders of prostitutes whose identities point to associations with the Wadsworth estate prompt Audrey to start her own investigation, with Thomas as her sidekick. Audrey’s narration is both ponderous and polemical, as she sees her pursuit of her goals and this investigation as part of a crusade for women. She declares that the slain aren’t merely prostitutes but “daughters and wives and mothers,” but she’s also made it a point to deny any alignment with the profiled victims: “I am not going as a prostitute. I am simply blending in.” Audrey also expresses a narrow view of her desired gender role, asserting that “I was determined to be both pretty and fierce,” as if to say that physical beauty and liking “girly” things are integral to feminism. The graphic descriptions of mutilated women don’t do much to speed the pace.
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging . (Historical thriller. 15-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27349-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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