The Diviners

High School Fiction, Historical, Paranormal

VG/M (Very Good, Mature Reading Level)

Bray, Libba. The Diviners. Little, Brown and Company, 2012. 578p. 978-0-316-12611-3. $19.99.


Small town teen Evie O'Neill is something. Something drunk, something scandalous, something odd and something dangerously close to the truth.  When Evie's something is too much for her tiny town in Ohio, she's sent to live with her Uncle Will in New York.  What better place for Evie to celebrate 1926 and find out what the bright lights of the big city have in store for her?

While New York has speakeasies, Ziegfield girls, independence, freedom and excitement, it also hides mysteries, murder, mayhem and a dangerous religious fervor. Does Evie have what it takes to survive when the city reveals its deadly secrets?

While lengthy, fan favorite Libba Bray's latest novel does not disappoint. The slower pacing throughout most of the book accentuates its creepy, troubling atmosphere and the interwoven narratives give hints as to what will certainly be important in future volumes.   These details balance out Evie's occasionally annoying vivaciousness and burgeoning problematic romances.

-Candice Mack, Richard J. Riordan Central Library, Los Angeles Public Library