Undemanding suspense.
Three teens become trapped by a terrifying cult when they stumble into a strange town after breaking down in a remote area.
Seventeen-year-old Dee, her boyfriend, Luke, and his brother, Mike, on their way to a concert, take a back road to save time and run out of gas. They hike to the nearest town but find it apparently deserted, with a siren sounding. The cemetery has only wooden crosses to mark graves, and all the houses and gardens look identical. They enter an empty house and shelter there from a sudden snowstorm. There, as in all the other houses, the only decorations are giant crosses on the walls. The next day, they meet Joseph, a boy their age who confirms that the town is controlled by his father, the cult’s leader, and who promises to help them. But his madman father, Elijah, discovers them, natch. Dee, eventually separated from Luke and Mike, must try to find the others and escape, with Elijah constantly threatening murder unless Dee complies with his wishes. Leaver and Currie set the scene effectively if not particularly originally and keep tension high. The cult never really seems credible, though, and Elijah’s villainy is thoroughly over-the-top. Nevertheless, readers who don’t probe hard should find Dee a sympathetic companion for the duration.
Undemanding suspense. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7387-4080-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
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
Chilling yet romantic; explores the complexities of death, love, and grief.
A teenage mortician’s assistant discovers that the dead don’t always stay that way.
Seventeen-year-old Meka is no stranger to death, having grown up working in her parents’ Ithaca, New York, funeral home. Though the morbidity of her job unsettles some of her friends, Meka is passionate about her family’s business, and she has the full support of her boyfriend, Noah. But despite her comfort with death, she’s haunted by a recurring nightmare about her mother dying—a dream she desperately hopes won’t come true. When Meka’s life is rocked by a completely unexpected tragedy, strange things begin happening: She sees shadowy figures lurking, a mysterious gift arrives on her doorstep, and fragments of a buried memory resurface. As Meka slowly pieces together the truth, what she finds forces her to question everything she knows about life and death—and her own family. Bayron crafts a page-turning, atmospheric homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, balancing unnerving horror with tender romance. Teens familiar with the original novel will enjoy the modern twist, and the layered mystery will also appeal to reluctant readers and those without prior knowledge of Shelley’s work. The foreboding narrative starts out at a slower pace and builds to an action-packed conclusion, though readers may be left with some unanswered questions. Meka and her family are cued as Black.
Chilling yet romantic; explores the complexities of death, love, and grief. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781547615865
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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