Tag Archives: Suspense

They All Fall Down

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St. Claire, Roxanne. They All Fall Down. New York: Point, 2014. 978-0-545-63997-2. 312p. $16.20. Gr. 7+.

Kenzie Summerall can’t believe it.  How in the world was she just voted as fifth on a list of the hottest girls in school? After dealing with her brother’s death, her parents’ separation, and her mother’s overbearing anxiety, Kenzie can bask in the happiness the list brings her: popularity, new friends, and boys chasing after her – the hottest boys in school!  Except the list is different this year, the thirteenth year of the list.  Because one by one, the girls on the list are meeting a tragic end. Is it a coincidence that several of the girls on the list have been in awful accidents, or is there a curse that no one is allowed to talk about?  With several close calls of her own, Kenzie needs to figure out what is going on before she’s next!
A suspenseful thriller, teen girls will zoom through this book by an author who has recently switched over to YA after writing many romance mysteries for adults!
Mystery/Suspense    Nicole Starner, Biglerville HS/Upper Adams MS

Marina: A Gothic Novel

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Zafon, Carlos Ruiz. Marina. New York: Little, Brown, and Co., 2014. 978-0-316-04471-4. 326p. $16.20. Gr. 8+.

Tired of the mundane life of his Barcelona boarding school, Oscar travels into the nearby streets, enchanted by the huge, abandoned mansions that were once beautiful. After accidentally stumbling upon Marina and her father, German, in a house he thought was empty, a friendship is formed when Marina takes Oscar to a graveyard to witness a mysterious event. The pair is catapulted into the story of the deceased Mijail Kolvenik, a rags-to-riches man once in charge of a company that made artificial limbs. As they start to find out the details of Mijail’s life, those once involved nearly three decades ago begin to face gruesome deaths. Marina and Oscar must find out the truth before they are faced with their own deaths.

From the bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind, this book created a weave of mystery that the reader just can’t put down. Ruiz Zafon combines mystery with horror as readers constantly second-guess themselves, but also ask “what if?”

Horror, Mystery     Nicole Starner, Biglerville HS/Upper Adams MS

Of Scars and Stardust

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Hannah, Andrea. Of Scars and Stardust. New York:  Flux, 2014.   978-0738740829. 336p. $9.99. Gr. 7-12.

If you like psychological thrillers and don’t want to have everything all wrapped up neatly at the end, then this book is for you. Claire is a fifteen year old who has heard stories about the wolves she can hear in her hometown and grows more afraid and fearful of them once she discovers her younger sister bleeding in a cornfield. The story takes some strange twists and turns as Claire is sent to live with her aunt in New York City for two years. When Claire finds out that her sister is missing, she returns to her home and investigates along with her old crush, Grant, only to discover even more disturbing secrets. 

Reading about Claire and uncovering the secrets that surround her is a page tuner. Readers want to know what is going on. Where is Ella, and why did she run away? Are the wolves real or just in Claire’s head? And just when you think you have figured out what is going on, the rug is pulled out beneath you.  Saying anything more about the plot would not be fair to readers or the author, but it was an interesting ride to say the least.

Realistic Fiction       Marian Kohan, Erie School District

Trust Me…I’m Lying

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Summer, Mary Elizabeth. Trust Me, I’m Lying. New York: Delacorte Press, 2014. 978-0-385-74406-5. 328 p. $17.99. Gr. 8+.

Julep Dupree is a small-time con artist and a master of disguise who learned her trade from the best: her dad, Joe. She’s known around St. Agatha’s Prep School as a fixer: for a respectable fee, she can make other people’s problems go away, but now she has a problem of her own. The seedy apartment she shares with her father has been trashed, and he is missing, leaving nothing but a series of puzzling clues behind. With help from her best friend Sam, a cute senior named Tyler, and barista-in-training / private eye Mike, Julep juggles a booming ID forging business, staying off the dean’s radar, and getting to the bottom of what her dad had on the bad guys, even as she reluctantly concedes that the odds are stacked against finding him alive. This enjoyable but somewhat farfetched novel careens from madcap chases to real menace (encounters with the Ukrainian crime syndicate and human trafficking, to name a few). The characters are extremely likable and the fast-paced, exciting plot will appeal to strong and reluctant readers alike.

Realistic Fiction (Suspense)            Amy V. Pickett, Ridley High School

I enjoy recommending “read-alikes” to my students, and Trust Me, I’m Lying would be a great choice for fans of Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber (Houghton Mifflin, 2011) or Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff (Little, Brown, 2013). The publisher also compares the novel to Heist Society by Ally Carter (Hyperion, 2010). I’d love to know what other books librarians might recommend to reader’s of Summer’s debut!

Black Ice

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Fitzpatrick, Becca. Black Ice. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014. 978-1-4424-7426-0. 392 p. $19.99. Gr. 9+.

Britt has been planning her Spring Break hiking trip to Teton National Park her entire senior year, and she’s bringing her best friend Korbie along for the ride. Calvin, Korbie’s brother and Britt’s first love, will be their chaperone … luckily Britt is totally almost over him. But all of Britt’s careful preparations are derailed when she and Korbie are stranded in a snowstorm. Seeking shelter for the night, they find a hunting cabin with two cute but cagey guys who take the girls hostage. When Britt discovers the body of a missing girl in the cabin’s storage closet, she realizes that she will have to outsmart her captors if she hopes to survive, and maybe worst of all, Britt begins feeling an undeniable attraction to one of the men. What follows is a heart-pounding survival story with twisty turns, unexpected romance, and an aggressive grizzly bear. Readers may figure out who the murderer is before Britt does, but the story unfolds with more than enough suspense to hold their interest. Some over-to-top scenes toward the book’s end are forgivable in a physical and psychological survival story this compelling.

Realistic Fiction (Suspense)            Amy V. Pickett, Ridley High School

Readers should note that the first chapter, set a year prior, depicts a brutal murder of a young woman without revealing the killer’s identity.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

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Koryta, Michael. Those Who Wish Me Dead. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2014. 978-0316122559. 392 p. $26.00. Gr. 10 and up.

While cliff jumping at the quarry one day, 13-year old Jace witnesses a brutal murder. Now he is the next target of the killers, the merciless Blackwell Brothers. To buy the police some time to find the Blackwells before they find Jace, the boy is given a new identity and hidden in a Montana wilderness skills program for troubled teenagers. Even Ethan Serbin, the survival specialist in charge of the wilderness program, doesn’t know which of the seven boys in his group is the one in hiding. But when the Blackwell Brothers attack Ethan’s wife and set fire to his house, Jace knows in his gut that those who wish him dead are coming for him next. From the very first sentence, this novel will have you on the edge of your seat. With a riveting plot, believable characters, and a setting so real that you can almost feel the heat from the campfire and hear the snap of twigs as the bad guys sneak up behind you, this is a pageturner in every sense of the word!

Realistic Fiction (Suspense)            Amy V. Pickett, Ridley High School

This is an excellent crossover novel; it’s written for adults, but teenaged Jace and the wilderness survival angle lend it tremendous appeal for young adult readers. It would be interesting to pair it with Becca Fitzpatrick’s recent winter-survival thriller Black Ice (Simon & Schuster, 2014) or have a book discussion including a viewing of Discovery’s popular survival series, Dude, You’re Screwed.

Surrounded by Sharks…new from Michael Northrop

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Northrop, Michael. Surrounded by Sharks. New York: Scholastic, 2014. 978-0-545-61545-7. 208p. $17.99. Gr. 5-8.

Davey feels trapped; he’s stuck sleeping on a cot in a hotel room shared with his parents and younger brother while on a family vacation to an island resort.  So, when he awakens early, he decides to slip out to explore the island.  Finding a secluded beach posted with a “No Swimming” sign, he relaxes with his favorite book. Tempted by the waves rolling ashore, he decides to walk along the beach.  Wading isn’t swimming, he rationalizes.  However, as he walks through the waves, Davey wades too far, is captured by a rip current and is swept out to sea.  Clinging to an empty water cooler bottle, Davey strategizes about how to return to shore or attract the attention of passersby.  Soon, he has a bigger problem—a much bigger problem.  He has attracted the attention of several sharks.  Meanwhile back on shore, his family, resort officials, fellow vacationers and the police are all engaged in a search for Davey.  Will they realize where he is?  And if they do, will they reach Davey before the sharks make their move?

Realistic Fiction; Adventure      Elizabeth Henry, Lampeter-Strasburg HS/MS

Surrounded by Sharks is more than just a pulse-pounding suspenseful story pitting boy vs. shark.  Chapters alternate among several points of view:  Davey, Brando (Davey’s younger brother), Drew (a British teen staying at the resort with her family), and the tiger shark stalking Davey.  This narrative technique increases the tension and suspense as readers experience Davey’s stress and fear, Brando’s growing worry for his brother, and Drew’s increasing interest in locating Davey.  Northrup uses the chapters told from the point of view of the tiger shark not only invoke a sense of danger closing in on Davey, but also to impart knowledge and scientific facts about species.  The chapters are short and easily keep the attention of the reader, making this an appealing choice for reluctant readers.

The Rule of Three

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Walters, Eric.  The Rule of Three. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014. 978-0374-355029. 405 p. $17.99 Gr. 5-12.
Adam Dailey and his best friend, popular procrastinator Todd, are bantering in study hall one morning, Adam doing most of the work, when the power goes out.  Immediately, everyone notices that cell phones are affected, then basic needs like electric.  School’s out, but few can leave because the computer systems of modern cars have been hit as well.  For once, Adam’s ’79 Omega brings him great pride as one of the few drivable cars.  Adam hates that his dad was traveling since he suspects there’s more to the story than simple power outage, and he’s correct. (By the end of book one, we still haven’t heard from his dad.)  Retired neighbor Herb acts with skills and knowledge that show his government job likely involved more than the “paper pushing” he’s always described.  With Adam’s mom as the police captain and Herb as the forward-thinking planner for basic needs, safety, crowd control, and more, Adam is well-placed to survive and to have an influence on the future of his neighbors and his world.  Adam’s and Todd’s humorous exchanges cover a deep friendship not seen often enough in literature. Adam’s and Herb’s relationship—Adam the youthful optimist and Herb the jaded pragmatist—quickly becomes one of mutual respect (Adam has the pilot’s knowledge for the ultralight he and his dad were building).  Adam’s growth as a young man making life-altering decisions is well-done, as are the detailed steps for rebuilding and securing a world forever changed.  Slow-paced, though with much action by the end, as the neighborhood has mostly banded together and works to resist serious attacks from outside.  Excellent as a survival story without the dystopian effects, of interest to preppers and those interested in military or police response.  Book 2 of the series to be published January 20, 2015.
In our high school, readers were drawn to this book by the cover, and fans of The 5th Wave and dystopian tales have been interested as well.  One reader compared it to Under the Dome and Jericho television series.

Realistic Fiction (Adventure/Survival)         Melissa Scott, Shenango High School