It’s the very near future and the US has been devastated by wildfires, drought and floods. Food shortages and riots have become the norm, with very few places designated as safe cities. Karloff Country Resort offers the very wealthy an escape from this broken world. It is “the funnest place around,” according to the owners. Once inside the walls of Karloff Country’s theme park, nothing in the outside world matters. The staff – all BIPOC – live onsite in an area separate from the guests and consider themselves lucky. They live and breathe the Karloff Country motto, “service and joy.”
Teens Jay, Zeke and Connie work and go to school there. Seychelle Karloff is part of their friend group. Despite being heir to the Karloff empire, she is more connected to the teens than her family. She has always been treated like an outsider. She’s biracial and her grandfather never forgave her mother for bringing a half-Black child into the family.
Things start to get troubling when Jay and Zeke notice some of their neighbors are going missing. At the same time wealthy families are moving into the Karloff vacation mansions but aren’t leaving. Guests become more demanding and treatment of the staff becomes more callous. Jay tries to find logical answers, while Zeke follows conspiracy chat rooms and realizes they might be on to something. Seychelle uses her Karloff family connections to get more information. As the three friends uncover the startling truth, they work together to find a way out.
It’s clear early on that things aren’t quite right; but as the story progresses, the intensity ratchets up quickly, in a frighteningly believable way. Horror stems from the world the Karloffs and their peers created both inside and outside the walls of Karloff Country. The teens’ relationships aren’t without conflict but each in their own way uses their skills and resources to help each other out.
The most frightening thing about The Getaway is how many storylines in the book are playing out in our world right now.
Clear your calendar because once you start this book you will not be able to put it down. And can we talk about that cover? The book is scary before you even open it!
Find The Getaway at your local bookstore
Once again Joel Christian Gill brings us the story of an important figure in Black history whose achievements are not well known. This graphic novel chronicles the life of Robert Smalls, an enslaved man from South Carolina who pulled off a most daring flight to freedom.
This historical fantasy is set during the Civil War and draws on actual events: the New York City draft riots and the burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum in July of 1863. In this version of that time, dinosaurs are still around, having been domesticated and put into use for various tasks. The story revolves around Magdalys Roca and her friends who live at the Colored Orphan Asylum. During a field trip to a theater they get caught up in the draft riots and find their orphanage has been burned to the ground. Even scarier, they are almost captured by the Kidnapping Club, a group of men who abduct colored people and sell them south into slavery. Magdalys, (who discovers she can somehow psychically communicate, understand and control dinosaurs), and the other orphans along with a few performers from the theater fight their way to safety aboard a brachiosaur. They find a safe house on Dactyl Hill, named for the pterodactyls who nest there. The crew learns that the Kidnapping Club has captured most of the colored orphans and is planning to sell them into slavery. With the help of a few adults and some powerful dinos, the children lead the battle against the kidnappers to free their friends.
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