Sensitive Readers Beware: "Deogratias" is Truly Disturbing

Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen

Stassen documents the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda through the eyes of the title character, Deogratias, a member of the Hutu ethnicity. The story begins with the massacre’s aftermath: Deogratias, traumatized by the recent past, wanders from place to place like a disturbed animal, even imagining at times that he’s a dog. As the narrative progresses, the reader pieces together fragments to reveal the horrifying truth. While Stassen doesn’t show the violence as it happens, his depiction of a murdered woman towards the end of the book proves to be disturbing enough. With its vibrant colors and its gut-wrenching content, Stassen’s work will leave the reader feeling unsettled long after the story is finished. Originally published in France, Deogratias won YALSA’s Great Graphic Novel Award, and was named one of ALA’s Best Book for Young Adults. A helpful introduction provides readers with a brief history of Rwanda, its colonization by the French, and the political factors that paved the road to genocide. Recommended for Gr 10 Up for language, sexual content, and violence.

A Colorful Rendition of Sherlock Holmes’s Sleuthing Debut

A Study in Scarlet: A Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel by Ian Edginton, with art by I.N.J. Culbard

A man is found dead in an empty house, with a single word, “Rache”—the German word for revenge—written in blood on the wall. Edginton and Culbard produce a colorful rendition of Sherlock Holmes’s sleuthing debut that young readers will be able to both understand and enjoy. Recommended for Ages 13-Up.

Not Terrible, But Certainly Disappointing

Bloody Chester by J.T. Petty. Illus by Hilary Florido (First Second, 2012, 160pp.)

Set somewhere in the Old West, Bloody Chester follows the story of Chester Kates, a ragged teenage waif who’s always falling in and out of bar fights. After one particular scrape, a man from the railroad company plucks him from the gutter, gives him clothes, a gun, and a mission: burn the neighboring town of Whale to the ground to make way for the brand new rail-line. When he reaches the town in question, however, he finds plague victims littering the streets, and a dead man with a sign around his neck that reads: Coyote Waits. Three survivors are all that remain: Caroline, a young woman whose father has fled to the hills, Father Goodnight, the ailing town priest, and Potter, his dimwitted adopted son. Despite Chester’s urgings, the three refuse to leave. Caroline is waiting for her father’s return, and the priest, who has just come down with the “heathen plague,” has quarantined himself and is determined to die alone for the betterment of mankind. As Chester continues his efforts to lead them to safety, he soon discovers the true horror of the plague’s origin.

Bloody Chester isn’t a terrible graphic novel, but when all is said and done, it’s a pretty big disappointment. Petty employs some big themes, like the corruptness of Western men and the savagery of modern progress. He even goes so far as to suggest that the “heathen plague” is brought upon Whale by moral corruption, not actual disease--which, coupled with the Old West setting, is pretty cool at first. Unfortunately, the author abandons his exploration of these “big themes” in order to pursue a confusing series of convoluted plot twists that left me thinking, “I’ve read better.” Much, much better. Recommended for Ages 16-18 for Language.

A Gripping, Suspenseful Crime Novel

Source: Author Website

With Malice by Eileen Cook (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2016, 320pp.)

When Jill, an American teenager, wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the past two months, she learns several disturbing things. One: while she was on a school trip to Italy, she crashed a rental car and was rushed to a hospital back home. Two: Her best friend, Simone, was killed in the crash. Three: the Italian police say that the crash was a deliberate act of murder/suicide. Now they want her back in Italy to stand trial. Fortunately, she’s given permission to stay in America until she completes rehab, but she has to wonder: why was she driving a car on a school trip? What exactly happened?

Twist and turns abound in this suspenseful novel, which proves gripping to the very end. What makes the novel better than average is the author’s inclusion of police interviews and media transcripts, which allow us to see the story in the broader scheme of things, and thus provides for a more compelling reading experience. Recommended for older teens for language, and discussions of intimate situations.

A Well-Meaning But Ineffective Tragedy

Source: Author Website

This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp (Sourcebooks Fire, 2016, 288pp.)

During a welcome-back assembly at a rural American high school, Ty Browne, a former student, slips inside the auditorium and locks the doors, trapping everyone inside. When the staff and students realize that something is wrong, he pulls out a gun and starts shooting. The ensuing horror is seen through the eyes of four students, each of whom struggles valiantly to live through the next fifty-four minutes. Unfortunately, not all will survive.

Although this is unfortunately going to be a negative review, I have to start off by applauding the author’s effort to mine an incredibly painful topic. She was also very creative with the way she interspersed blog posts, Twitter feeds, and text messages throughout her prose. However, I’m afraid that’s where my praise is going to stop, because overall, I found Nijkamp’s debut novel to be pretty shallow. What else do you call a story where non-descript students and staff are dispatched shortly after being introduced? Where friends still manage to keep up their regular, witty banter while fleeing for their lives? In addition to this, there’s an annoying amount of speech-making that allows the shooter to indulge in a long-winded bad-guy monologue. At another point, one of the protagonists manages to claim the moral high ground by delivering a brief but impassioned speech:

    “You think you’re something, don’t you? […]” [Ty] says. “Are you afraid now? This time, I’m in control, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

    “You’ll kill me. That’s that. So no, I’m not afraid.” I shrug while sweat runs down my back and my arms. “Funny thing, though, that still means I am in control.”

    He pulls the trigger, and I flinch. The bullet buries itself in the wall beside me. Tyler’s gloating makes me want to charge him. But I refuse to give him that pleasure.

    “You’ll kill me on my terms,” I say... (239)

Essentially, This is Where it Ends is a well-meaning, but ineffective tragedy that tries to soften the blows of character loss by leaning on the laws of Hollywood fiction. Recommended for Ages 16-Up.

An Edgy Thriller for Reluctant Readers

Source: Author Website

The Truth by Jeffry W. Johnston (Sourcebooks Fire, 2016, 256pp.)

The last thing Chris Russo remembers is knocking on a girl’s front door to take her to a party. When he wakes up, he’s tied to a chair in someone’s basement. What’s worse, the kidnapper that confronts him is an angry, garden shear-wielding teen named Derek.

He and Derek have met before. A week prior, something happened that ended with Chris shooting a 13-year-old boy to death. Derek, the boy’s older brother, reached out to him for answers. When Chris avoided him, Derek turned to kidnapping. Now, Chris must answer: why is Derek’s brother dead? Over the course of the novel, Chris tries to explain to Derek—and the reader—what led to that fatal encounter.

Although the characters aren’t particularly vibrant, and the storytelling a bit simplistic (with chapters alternating between “Now”—during Chris’s interrogation—and “Then”—before the shooting), Johnston still does a good job at entertaining. Opening with a scene guaranteed to grab any reluctant reader by the throat, the novel ends with a final plot twist that turns the story completely on its head. This title contains mature themes, and includes scenes of threatened torture and use of firearms. Although the violence in this thriller isn’t explicitly graphic, it limits my recommendation to older teens, ages 16-18.

An Awesome Thriller

Source: Publisher Website

Erebos by Ursula Poznanski (2010; Annick Press, 2012, 440pp.)

When Nick is approached by a classmate offering a copy of Erebos, a hot new video game, he doesn’t expect much. It looks like a simple game that allows you to design your own character, join in group quests, and fight battles in a lush fantasy setting. Just your average RPG, right? Except there’s something different about Erebos. Something unnaturally addictive. Soon, Nick is obsessively gaming late into the night, plotting ways to gain new experience levels. When his character, Sarius, is mortally wounded in battle, all his hard work seems lost—until a sinister authority figure, the Messenger, offers to help. In exchange for renewed health and energy, the Messenger asks Nick to perform a series of menial tasks—not within the game, but outside in the real world. One day he’s instructed to leave an unmarked package under a bridge, the next day he’s told to take pictures of two strangers in their car. Harmless stuff, right? Except it isn’t. When one of Nick’s delivered packages turns out to contain something highly illegal, he gets scared. What is Erebos, exactly? Is it really just a video game, or something more? More importantly—can it be stopped?

As a reader, all I can say is that this international import is truly awesome. The sinisterness of the game is truly creepy, and the mystery of Erebos is intriguing enough to drive the story towards its thrilling conclusion. However, while this novel has the potential to be enjoyed by teens of any age and gender, there are some dark moments in the story that might limit its age bracket to 15 and up, including a scene where one character is accused of assault, and another scene where characters discuss a suicide that happened several years previous. There’s also some swearing and fantasy violence, but nothing graphic enough to mention.

A Southern Gothic Rendition of To Kill A Mockingbird

The Hanging Woods by Scott Loring Sanders (Houghton Mifflin, 2008, 336pp.)

This unsettling, tragic tale records the events of one strange summer among three friends—vindictive trickster Jimmy, soft, pudgy Mothball, and the enigmatic Walter—in a small Alabama town during the 1970s. After Jimmy plays a cruel trick on them, Walter and Mothball decide to return the favor. Things go awry when their joke ends in tragedy, and the boys find themselves scrambling for reasons to justify their actions. Fans of happy endings are advised to steer clear of this one. The oppressive atmosphere of this weird, sordid novel will haunt the reader long after the story is finished. Recommended for Ages 16-Up.

Click on cover for image source.