June 6, 2016
Seniors at Covington High School are spontaneously combusting in one gloriously gory explosion after another, and it doesn’t take long for the FBI to descend on the New Jersey town to figure out what is going on. Is it terrorism? A curse? At the heart of Starmer’s story is Mara Carlyle, a senior who witnesses the first combustion up close in precalc. Mara’s blunt, sarcastic narration is well-matched to the absurdity of the plot, and while it’s tempting to think of it as a defense mechanism in response to an unbelievable situation, it seems clear that this is just who Mara is. Her lengthy internal monologues, while entertaining, can frustrate the story’s momentum and make Mara seem more like an observer and chronicler of the mayhem, rather than a participant, despite her proximity to several of the explosions. This aside, Starmer (the Riverman trilogy) adeptly uses his bloody, madcap premise to heighten just how much of life is out of our control, and how important it is to seize whatever time we’re given. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
Starred review from July 1, 2016
A small New Jersey town is rocked by a disastrous phenomenon.Mara Carlyle's senior year is just beginning when Katelyn Ogden blows up--literally--during pre-calc. After the blood is cleaned off the walls and the class tries to move on, another student pops like a balloon during a therapy session. And then another combusts on the football field during the big game. The spontaneous combustions spread through the senior class in Mara's suburban town, claiming kids of all colors, creeds, and class, seemingly sparing no one. No one but Mara, that is. As the white teen does her best to adapt to the increasingly absurd circumstances surrounding her, Starmer weaves a dark and hilarious tale that is unafraid to provoke laughs and chills in equal measure. Mara strikes the perfect balance between snark and smarts, providing quips and heart in equal measure. Her relationship with ice cream-truck-driving mystery boy Dylan, also white, deepens as their classmates burst all around them, and their love story is just as compelling as the mystery behind the explosions. The author has no trouble pushing these characters through hell, but the book reaches true greatness when readers see them on the other side and explore what's left of them. Subplots involving an opportunistic scientist, a foulmouthed president, and a badass FBI agent push this one into must-read territory. A blood-soaked, laugh-filled, tear-drenched, endlessly compelling read. (Fiction. 14 & up)
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Starred review from August 1, 2016
Gr 10 Up-From the author of "The Riverman" trilogy comes a wholly original YA tale of identity, friendship, love, lust, and gory, grisly death. Covington High is facing a unique crisis: one by one, members of the senior class are spontaneously combusting, inexplicably blowing up in a mess of blood and guts. As the body count increases and the government gets involved, 12th grader Mara Carlyle attempts to figure out what's going on, with the help of her best friend Tess and an FBI agent. This darkly hilarious, fast-paced title will have readers turning pages to uncover the mystery along with Mara, whose witheringly sarcastic first-person voice calls to mind Alice Roosevelt Longworth ("If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me"). Starmer excels at crafting delightfully bizarre situations and skewering current trends and pop culture tropes. He has compiled a diverse body of students whom he kills off with gusto. Underneath the humor, however, lie genuine emotions: Mara falls in love with loner Dylan, reevaluates her friendship with Tess, and examines herself and her own attitudes. While not all readers will warm to a narrator who so blithely disregards the adage against speaking ill of the dead, many will find it refreshing to encounter an unapologetically snarky female protagonist. Sexual situations and references to drug use make this more suitable for older teens. VERDICT Those who appreciate strange and unusual fare will gravitate to this explosive new offering; hand it to fans of Libba Bray, A.S. King, David Lubar, and Andrew Smith.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2016
Grades 10-1 This is how it starts: Katelyn Ogden blows up in third period pre-calc, the victim of spontaneous combustion. In short order, other identical deaths inexplicably follow. What on earth could be causing them? Genes? Drugs? A virus? It's an irresistibly original premise for a story told in the achingly honest, darkly humorous, and occasionally acerbic voice of Katelyn's classmate Mara. As deaths escalate, a pattern of sorts emerges: all of the victims have been high-school seniors, a trait shared by Mara; her best friend, Tess; and her new boyfriend, Dylan. Will they be the next victims? Perhaps FBI Agent Carla RosettiMara's hero, a sort of XFiles Scully typecan find out. Or perhaps not, for as the novel continues, the only certainty is uncertainty. What does it all mean? Don't expect neat, tidy answers, for none are forthcoming in Starmer's sometimes frustrating, sometimes fascinating, and occasionally maddening exercise in Grand Guignol. Its many imponderables make this one a great book for discussion groups.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
October 31, 2016
Actress McKenna creates high drama in her reading of Starmer’s YA novel about a string of spontaneous combusting teenagers at a high school in New Jersey. Members of the Covington High School senior class keep exploding, and no one is sure why. Protagonist Mara Carlyle witnesses the first explosion in her precalc class. She and her friends want to figure out what’s going on, but that’s hard to do when FBI agents and other government agents become a part of everyday life and everyone else is deathly afraid of being contaminated. In the audio edition, McKenna’s deep and throaty voice draws in the listener hypnotically, while her emphasis and emotional expression captures the firsthand account of Mara as she witnesses many of her friends burst. Beyond the aural appeal of her voice, McKenna captures the tone, rhythm, and attitude of the different teenagers present throughout the story, giving each character vocal identities that only rarely skirt the edge of caricature. She’s at her best when the story goes deep into Mara’s thoughts to see the genuine (and not always kind) side of this protagonist. Ages 14–up. A Dutton hardcover.
January 1, 2017
Mara Carlyle offers gruesomely funny commentary as an epidemic of spontaneous combustion sweeps her senior class. Mara's connections to best friend Tess, boyfriend Dylan, and their classmates are both strained and deepened as the senseless reality of losing any of them at any moment takes its toll. Bursting with heartache and gore, Mara's narration appeals directly to readers' senses of horror and humor.
(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
September 1, 2016
High school senior Mara Carlyle's pre-calc class gets a shake-up when classmate Katelyn Ogden explodes -- literally -- in a spectacular spatter of teenage body parts. No sooner is the blood cleaned off the whiteboard and condolences exchanged than a second student, Brian Chen, erupts in Mara's group therapy session, and then a third at a school football game. Mara offers her gruesomely funny commentary as an epidemic of spontaneous combustion sweeps through the Covington High senior class. As parents, town leaders, and FBI agents scramble to find causes and cures and the government hastens to establish a quarantine, the remaining seniors mourn their classmates while also trying to adjust to their new (combustible) circumstances. Mara's best friend Tess considers scientific theories; Mara's new boyfriend, Dylan, focuses on the significance of each life snuffed out; and Mara herself candidly takes readers through each event, her natural flair for snark and her growing sense of loss intertwining. Mara's connections to Tess, Dylan, and her other classmates are both strained and deepened as the senseless possibility -- and reality -- of losing any of them at any moment takes its toll. Bursting with heartache and gore, Mara's narration appeals directly to readers' senses of horror and humor. anastasia m. collins
(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)