Review of The Lonely Dead by April Henry

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Henry, April.  The Lonely Dead.  Henry Holt, 2019.

Adele Meeker has the paranormal ability of being able to see and talk to dead people.  However, for her whole life, she has been told that she is schizophrenic, just like her mother and grandmother were.  Adele doesn’t like how she feels when she is medicated, so she stops taking her pills. 

When Adele is walking through the park one late afternoon, she sees Tori Rasmussen, her former best friend, sitting on the cold ground and wearing summer clothes, even though it is wintertime.  She realizes that Tori is dead even though Tori does not know it.  Adele anonymously notifies the police but eventually becomes a suspect in this horrendous crime.  She realizes that the only way to clear her name is to try to solve the murder.  With the help of Charlie Lauderdale, a classmate and the son of a local police detective, Adele sifts through possible suspects, even, at times, blaming herself.

It has been a long time since I was so engrossed in a book that I could not put it down.   This happens every time I pick up one of April Henry’s mysteries.  She manages to keep the pace of the story moving and keep the reader guessing and the pages turning.  Call me naïve, but I didn’t guess who the murderer was until nearly the very end of the novel.

Adele and Tori are both such strong female characters.  Students have talked about Adele her whole life, calling her crazy, but she has ignored them.   Even when her Grandpa didn’t believe in her, she felt she could change his mind.  Tori is a wisecracking, blunt girl, and is known for putting people in their places.  She is never afraid to speak her mind even when she is dead.

April Henry does her research, and I love the way she deftly works in information allowing the reader to see how the forensic process works.  I always learn something when I read her books.  My favorite scene was the one in which Adele is on a school field trip and talks to Rebecca, the girl who died on the Oregon Trail.  That was a funny and insightful conversation!

Hand this book to fans of April Henry’s books and those mystery fans that are always looking for a page-turner!  I highly recommend it for middle school, high school, and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis.

Review of Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

          Kuehn, Stephanie.  Charm and Strange.  Electric    Monkey/Egmont, 2013.

My review of Charm and Strange is going to take a different format from the reviews I usually write.  It is not very often that I come across a book that I really do not know how to review.  What makes this review even harder is that I cannot say much about the plot without giving up spoilers.

This debut novel is written through a series of events—“Matter” in the present and “Anti-Matter” in the past---through the eyes of Winston Drew Winters, aka Win and Drew.  In the present, sixteen-year-old Win is a boarding school student in a remote part of New England.  He won’t let anyone get close to him for fear of what he might do to others.

In the past, Drew is a young boy who excels at tennis and looks up to his older brother, Keith.  He fears his overbearing, drunken father and often has unexplained blackouts.  Drew has terrible motion sickness and bouts of uncontrollable, violent anger.

The summer Drew, Keith, and Siobhan, their younger sister, visit their cousins and grandparents leads to a family tragedy and more mental problems for Drew.  It is also the reason he ends up at boarding school fighting demons in his mind and fearing what will eventually become of him.

Charm and Strange seems to start out as a paranormal novel but ends up as something totally different.  The beginning of the novel is confusing and the plot wanders, but the plot threads finally weave themselves together to make sense.  Some readers may not wait long enough to see this through and will miss the satisfying conclusion.

The plot is character-driven, and the author does a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters.  Even the minor characters are extremely complex.  Additionally, the subject matter has obviously been well researched and brilliantly integrated into the story.

Charm and Strange is a psychological thrill that deals with a sensitive subject.  It is for mature readers.  I highly recommend it for upper high school students and public library libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!