Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of murders thrusts Evie and her uncle, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation. - (Baker & Taylor)
A young woman discovers her mysterious powers could help catch a killer in the first book of The Diviners series--a stunning supernatural historical mystery set in 1920s New York City, from Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray.
Evangeline O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and sent off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is ecstatic. It's 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries he'll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far.
When the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfurl in the city that never sleeps. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened....
- (Grand Central Pub)
Libba Bray is the #1 bestselling author of The Diviners, Lair of Dreams, the Los Angeles Times Book prize finalist Beauty Queens, the 2010 Printz Award-winning Going Bovine, and the acclaimed Gemma Doyle trilogy. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. - (Grand Central Pub)
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Here's your headline, boss: "Small-Town Dame Lands in Big Apple, Goes Wild, Tries to Stop Resurrection of Antichrist." It'll sell bundles! Indeed it will, as Bray continues her winning streak with this heedlessly sprawling series starter set in Prohibition-era New York. Slang-slinging flapper Evie, 17, is "pos-i-tute-ly" thrilled to be under the wing of her uncle, who runs the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. Business is slow (i.e., plenty of time for Evie to swill gin at speakeasies!) until the grisly arrival of what the papers dub the Pentacle Killer, who might be the reincarnation of a religious zealot named Naughty John. Even Evie's new pals—hoofers, numbers runners, and activists, but all swell kids—are drawn into the investigation. It's Marjorie Morningstar meets Silence of the Lambs, and Bray dives into it with the brio of the era, alternating rat-a-rat flirting with cold-blooded killings. Seemingly each teen has a secret ability (one can read an object's history; another can heal), and yet the narrative maintains the flavor of historical fiction rather than fantasy. The rest of the plot—well, how much time do you have? The book is big and wants to be the kind of thing you can lose yourself in. Does it succeed? It's jake, baby. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: One need only peruse Bray's track record (the Gemma Doyle Trilogy; Going Bovine, 2009; Beauty Queens, 2011) to see that the heavy promo plans and author tour are well earned. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
Library Journal Reviews
Sparkling, sexy, and smart are words that can describe most every book by the multitalented author of the Printz Award–winning Going Bovine (2009). Add big and creepy, and you have a start on describing this first book in supernatural trilogy set in the Roaring Twenties. Ohioan Evie O'Neill thinks it's just jake when she is "banished" to the care of her distracted uncle, the curator of a New York City museum dedicated to the study of the occult. The creepy part? A series of ritual murders leads them to Naughty John, a long-dead religious fanatic who just may be trying to bring about the end of the world. Throw in a numbers runner, a wide-eyed Socialist, a follies dancer, and an early-day cyborg, and you have a one-of-a-kind setting peopled by some of the most engaging characters this (or any other) year. Most satisfyingly, while the book is clearly the start of a larger piece, the complete story arc does not leave the reader on the ledge, just hungry for more. A big book that somehow feels too short. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.