A provocative and mostly compelling look at rape culture and the privilege that protects it.
A young woman new to a prestigious boarding school is sexually assaulted by a wealthy, powerful upperclassman.
Fifteen-year-old Sam is excited, if apprehensive, to be attending Edwards Academy. Her middle-class background feels a world away from the extreme affluence of her new classmates, and she’s relieved to find a good friend in her roommate, Gracie, whose goofy humor and incisive outlook about the school’s culture provide much-needed support. From this premise, an explosive, harrowing tale is spun about a school climate that encourages both students and faculty to turn a blind eye to illegal happenings including smoking, hazing rituals, and rape. The novel is told in three acts and weaves together three separate voices: a secret blog, Sam’s first-person account, and the third-person narrative of Harper, a reporter Sam eventually contacts in the hope she will expose the secrets at Edwards. The tone and plotting of this contemporary novel runs distinctively toward the thriller form, complete with courtroom drama and a surprise twist. While engrossing, these dramatic elements detract somewhat from the characters and the emotional gravity of the all-too-realistic injustices they face. Sam is white; Gracie’s last name, Caleza, suggests a Latina background and she is described as having “topaz”-colored skin; Harper is black.
A provocative and mostly compelling look at rape culture and the privilege that protects it. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5124-2996-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements.
A wary teen wonders if she should run when people come looking for her.
Lucy Smith was raised by her white father, who said little about her mother. Following his death and her stepmother’s abandonment, Lucy entered the foster care system at 14. Her stepmother revealed that Lucy’s birth mom was Native American, but her social worker urged her to keep that quiet. Battered by her time in the foster care system, it’s no wonder that 18-year-old Lucy is cautious when she’s approached by a man who says he’s an attorney who helps Native American foster kids connect with their families and communities. He introduces her to a friend who reveals to Lucy that she knows her Ojibwe maternal relatives—but a wary Lucy refuses her offer to learn more. Someone is stalking her, after all, and the FBI is investigating the bomb that went off in the diner where she worked—an event she’s sure targeted her. This stand-alone from bestseller Boulley, who’s an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, includes characters her fans will recognize from previous works. The action scenes are mediated by ruminations on the failings of the foster care system and strong portrayals of Lucy’s relationship with her father and her complicated identity. Ardent book lover Lucy is a sympathetic narrator whose strong sense of justice is coupled with a deep acceptance of others.
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements. (content warning, author’s note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328533
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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