DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Almost from the moment Jack boards the ferry to take him to his summer job as a companion to two children, he gets a feeling of foreboding, and it's not just because he's moving to a privately owned island with no Internet or cell phone service. Kirby Heyborne narrates Jack's detailed letters home, perfectly expressing the gradual change in the teen's personality from a subtle feeling of unease to the outright fear of seeing ghosts and amping up the terror as Jack descends into paranoia and anger. In this updated version of Henry James’s TURN OF THE SCREW, Heyborne's voice is sometimes too mature for a high schooler, and listeners may be put off by his underlying tone of earnestness. Amy Rubinate is believable as Jack's girlfriend, and Grover Gardner turns in a fine performance as Jack's father. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
This alluring epistolary retelling of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw traces a contemporary babysitter’s supernatural encounters. The protagonist, Jack, is hoping to earn some money for college when he agrees to care for orphan siblings on Crackstone’s Landing, a remote island without phones, Internet, or TV. Upon settling into the “Dark House” to care for Miles and Flora (who are like “iniature, polite grown-ups”), Jack begins to have misgivings about the job. Still, things don’t begin to go awry until Jack is spooked by two ethereal figures, perhaps the ghosts of the children’s former governess and her beau. Jack’s growing anxiety, physical decline, and obsession with the female ghost are heavily foreshadowed and clearly expressed through his letters to his girlfriend (which make up the bulk of the narrative), yet it is left for readers to determine how much of what Jack undergoes is real. Remaining true to the ambiguous nature of the original, Prose (Touch) masterfully builds suspense. Like Adele Griffin’s Tighter (2011), this spin on the classic tale is an enticing blend of gothic elements and psychological complexities. Ages 13–up. Agent: Denise Shannon, Denise Shannon Literary Agency. (Oct.)
DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Almost from the moment Jack boards the ferry to take him to his summer job as a companion to two children, he gets a feeling of foreboding, and it's not just because he's moving to a privately owned island with no Internet or cell phone service. Kirby Heyborne narrates Jack's detailed letters home, perfectly expressing the gradual change in the teen's personality from a subtle feeling of unease to the outright fear of seeing ghosts and amping up the terror as Jack descends into paranoia and anger. In this updated version of Henry James’s TURN OF THE SCREW, Heyborne's voice is sometimes too mature for a high schooler, and listeners may be put off by his underlying tone of earnestness. Amy Rubinate is believable as Jack's girlfriend, and Grover Gardner turns in a fine performance as Jack's father. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Henry James' The Turn of the Screw is the inspiration for this epistolary novel by Francine Prose. High school senior Jack has been hired as a professional playmate for two orphaned children who live on their wealthy family's remote island for the summer. But the isolated place has no Internet or phone service, so Jack must write old-fashioned letters to communicate. Very quickly the strangely polite siblings and their vast spooky mansion begin freaking Jack out, and his letters to his girlfriend grow more and more paranoid. He writes about seeing the ghosts of a former teacher and the previous groundskeeper, who both died under mysterious circumstances, and he becomes obsessed with their stories. Are they real? Or is Jack losing his mind? If readers can suspend disbelief that a teenage boy would recount lengthy, word-for-word conversations in letters, then they might be susceptible to the novel's moderately creepy tone. But the bad things are telegraphed so early and often and Jack's voice is so nondescript, that the fear never really takes root. Whether or not the ghosts are real is left up to readers, but due to the lackluster prose and obvious foreshadowing, the question is ultimately not that frightening. Teens looking for a more elegantly executed retelling should turn to Tighter by Adele Griffin (2011). Not enough scare there. (Fiction. 12 & up)
