August 22, 2022
Staying behind after a class field trip, three seventh graders endure a creepy night on the grounds of a long-shuttered island prison in this atmospherically heightened mystery by Bradley (Midnight at the Barclay Hotel). When Korean American Marvin, an aspiring filmmaker worried about being forgotten, sneaks off the class’s home-bound ferry to record footage for a horror movie, two other kids join him. In the night to come, white, soccer-loving Tori confronts her feelings about her older brother’s wrongful incarceration, while shy new kid Noah, a Black science enthusiast grieving his mother’s death, faces his fear of disappearing. Investigating the old mystery of the island’s notorious escaped prisoners, the tweens encounter the island’s caretakers, a ghost-hunting film crew, and very real spirits, only to have matters complicated when someone ends up dead. Convenient reveals sometimes sap tension from the unfolding mystery, but smartly employed horror elements—a wide-ranging third-person narration that includes the island’s perspective, an eerie setting featuring ever-present ravens and an underground isolation cell—contribute to a genuinely frightening feel that dovetails with a sober subplot examining injustices committed against the island’s prisoners and institutional racism in the U.S. legal system. An author’s note discusses prison reform and offers links for further reading. Ages 8–12. Agent: Laurel Symonds, Bent Agency.