17 AND GONE by Nova Ren Suma

The blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Lauren is having visions of girls who have gone missing. And all these girls have just one thing in common—they are 17 and gone without a trace. As Lauren struggles to shake these waking nightmares, impossible questions demand urgent answers: Why are the girls speaking to Lauren? How can she help them? And… is she next? As Lauren searches for clues, everything begins to unravel, and when a brush with death lands her in the hospital, a shocking truth emerges, changing everything.

The review:

Nova Ren Suma has quickly established herself - to me, at least - as a writer of the unexpected. As with her last book, IMAGINARY GIRLS, the impression I got from reading the summary was a very different one than I came away with at the end. I would have still loved the story had it played out as a straightforward supernatural mystery, but in Suma's hands, the story becomes something else entirely, and the reader is pulled along with breathtaking, nightmarish urgency.

I think that building tension is one of the hardest skills for a writer to master, as it's so easy to pull that trigger just a little too soon. Suma is a master at letting each scene build to its own crescendo, and knows how to keep the reader just as unsettled and off-kilter as Lauren is. Her talent for creating atmosphere only amplifies the effect, and I could perfectly picture each lonely setting, whether it was the shuttered, off-season summer camp where Abby disappeared all those months ago, or the darkened house Lauren visits in her dreams.

My favorite part, though, was the economy with which Suma characterizes each of the missing girls. Whether it was Abby, Erica, Shyann, or Yoon-mi and Maura, I was riveted to each of their stories, and just as interested in learning their fates as Lauren. Some of them get chapters, and some of them get just a few paragraphs, but with each one, the details Suma leaves out are just as compelling as the ones she includes

To learn more about the story, visit Nova Ren Suma's blog, which is running a fascinating series of posts in which authors talk about the things that haunted them at age 17.

THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS by Claire Legrand

THE BLURB:
Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster—lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out…different. Or they don’t come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria—even if it means getting a little messy.



THE REVIEW:

Oh. My gosh. Y'all.

I make no secret of the fact that I love creepy things. So when I saw the CAVENDISH pitch making the rounds in various contests last year, I pretty much wanted to launch myself through the computer screen and read it right that second. And when I looked at PM one day and saw the deal announcement, I may have done a little happy dance.

I finally picked up CAVENDISH yesterday afternoon, and I am thrilled to say that it lived up to my expectations completely. The voice grabbed me from the first page, and the gradual build of dread was perfectly executed. I fell in love with Victoria and Lawrence, and couldn't wait to see what would happen to them next.

Also, as much as I love horror, I have pretty much seen it all at this point, so CAVENDISH was an extremely pleasant surprise. The horror aspects were thoroughly original and just so much fun. The visuals were just skin-crawlingly eerie and had me cackling with glee. And the titular Home... well, I won't spoil anything, so I will just say this: WELL PLAYED, MS. LEGRAND.

The Amazon page for CAVENDISH recommends it to fans of Neil Gaiman's CORALINE, and as a huge fan of CORALINE, I can confidently say that CAVENDISH will be joining it on the list of my favorite middle-grade horror novels. If you're looking for a fast-paced, atmospheric read for October, you might want to snatch this one up.

THE PRICKER BOY by Reade Scott Whinnem

THE BLURB:

He was human once, or so they say. The son of a fur trapper, he was taunted by his peers and tricked into one of his own father's traps. By the time anybody found it, the trap's vicious teeth were empty, pried open and overgrown. It was said the brambles themselves had reached out and taken pity on that boy; that his skin had hardened to bark as thorns grew over every inch of his body.

Maybe it's true and maybe it isn't. But anyone who knows anything stays out of the woods beyond the Widow's Stone.

That used to be enough. But this is the summer everything changes, as Stucks Cumberland and his friends find a mysterious package containing mementos of their childhood: baseball cards, a worn paperback, a locket. Offerings left in the woods years ago, meant to keep the Pricker Boy at bay. Offerings that have been rejected.

THE REVIEW: 

So basically, I am terrible, and I have a very long queue of books I need to review at Afterglow! But THE PRICKER BOY is the kind of book where you just have to climb to the rooftops and shout about how good it is. Oh. My. Goodness. Y'all. I can't even tell you how much I enjoyed this. I am an insatiable horror fan, and I have a particular interest in the rich tradition behind scary campfire stories, so as soon as I read the blurb, I pounced.

I grew up in New England, so I know this setting well: the protagonist, Stucks, lives in the Northeast, in a community that's the perfect vacation spot in the summer and a cold, unforgiving place in the winter. Most of his friends, except for his best friend Pete, are only there for the warm weather, and as the story begins, they are just old enough that they're beginning to outgrow the monsters in the woods. And the way those monsters draw them back in is deliciously creepy. There's something so psychologically terrifying about the dark forest, and Whinnem taps into those primal fears effortlessly. There were a few times when I had to look over my shoulder, just to make sure there was nothing lurking there!

But the character interplay was the reason the book exceeded my expectations. Like all the best horror stories, Whinnem juxtaposes the supernatural with horrors that are all too real: is the Pricker Boy stalking the group, or are the cracks in their friendship just beginning to take shape? Stucks is a wonderfully unreliable narrator, and the way the group dynamic develops packs a huge emotional punch. There's a revelation about three quarters of the way through that made me gasp.

All that, and it's incredibly well-written, too.

So what are you waiting for? Go read it! Read it noooow!

REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly

on Goodreads

Summary:

Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and angry at the world for taking her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And her father has determined that Andi's accompanying him to Paris over winter break is the solution to everything.

But Paris is a city of ghosts for Andi. And when she finds a centuries-old diary, the ghosts begin to walk off the page. Alexandrine, the owner of the journal, knew heartbreak also, and Andi finds comfort in the girl's words. Until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

The Afterglow

The blurb just does this book no justice whatsoever. The blurb is simply interesting. The book is gorgeous. Ms. Donnelly juggles several different themes here - the past's relationship with the present, the parallels between Alex and Andi's lives, and the different ways the characters channel their grief - and she weaves them together with haunting, beautiful prose.

I was particularly impressed with Andi and Alex's distinct voices. I appreciated that even though Andi is a troubled character, Ms. Donnelly never went for the cheap teen angst. Andi has lighter moments as well, and I was truly sympathizing with her and rooting for her. I'm surprised at how much I ended up loving Alex, though. I loved that she didn't start off as a particularly good person, but she becomes such a quietly inspiring figure by the end of the book. The supporting characters were well-drawn, and though I'm notoriously hard to please when it comes to romance, this one really won me over.

This is not the sort of book to tackle if you're looking for something light - even in the book's happier moments, there's an undercurrent of melancholy. But overall it was a very uplifting, very engaging read. I highly recommend it.

And on an unrelated note, hi! I'm Becky, and I'm happy to be the newest member of Afterglow. I'll do my best to make these reviews coherent!