James Nicoll Reviews

Tananarive Due’s 2023 Bram Stoker-winning The Reformatory is, in its way, an example of the venerable boarding school adventure genre. However, as protagonist Robert Stephens is African American and the book is set in Jim-Crow-era Florida, The Reformatory is also a horror novel.

Twelve-year-old Robert Stephens, Jr. is, like all his kin, keenly aware of the danger that his racist white neighbors present. Neverending vigilance and caution are mandated if Robert would like to live to thirteen. Nevertheless, Robert commits an unforgivable transgression: being the son (and namesake) of union-organizer Robert Stephens, Sr.

Robert Stephens, Sr. fled north from a trumped-up rape charge. Robert Stephens, Sr.’s wife is too dead to target. Robert Stephens, Jr., is an ideal target for displaced frustration. Retaliation is a matter of when and how, not if.

A chance encounter dooms Robert.

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2013’sDominoFallsis a sequel to Stephen Barnes and Tananarive Due’s 2012 novel,Devil’sWake.

FreakDay, when the infected turned on their former friends, neighbours,and family members, ended the comfortable old world. Mere weeks afterFreak Day, most humans are either dead or infected. The few untaintedsurvivors struggle to survive and to avoid the infection even onebite can transmit.

Kendralost her family to Freak Day and its aftermath. No person can survivealone for long; luckily for Kendra, she has five reliable allies inTerry, Piranha, Sonia, Dean, and Darius. Even better, the six teensmay have found the refuge they need in Domino Falls, one of the fewtowns to survive Freak Day.

Orthey may not.

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2012’sDevil’sWakeis the first volume in Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due’s Devil’sWakeseries.

Itdidn’t take long for the plague of angry ghouls to sweep across America,because to be bitten by one of the infected is to become one of theinfected. There is no cure and there is no vaccine. The only reliableprophylaxis is preparedness or simple dumb luck.

Givenenough time, even the prepared run into something unexpected. Giventime, the best luck in the world runs out.

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