Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

September 13, 2010
A title this good has a lot to live up to, and debut author McBride proves she's largely up to the task in this scary and
irreverent romp. College dropout Sam is underwhelmed by his life as a fast food fry cook, when a game of potato hockey behind the restaurant goes awry and throws him into the sights of an evil and powerful necromancer named Douglas Montgomery. Sam turns out to be a necromancer too, making him Douglas's target for either slavery or death. With help from Brid, a teenage werewolf/fey hybrid who is Douglas's prisoner, and a ghost named Ashley, Sam must figure out how to escape Douglas, keep his loved ones alive, and use his power while avoiding its more horrific aspects. McBride pulls no punches and hits where readers will least expect it; the story can be gory and violent, but isn't gratuitously graphic. A solid start that concludes with the promise of Sam's power growing greater and darker, secrets getting deeper, and more fun to follow. Ages 14–up.

September 1, 2010

After a lighthearted opening packed with Buffy-esque wackiness, Samhain Corvus Lacroix is dragged from his dead-end food-service job into a terrifying magical power struggle. When a visitor to the Plumpy's fast-food restaurant identifies unexceptional college-dropout Sam as a necromancer, narrator Sam writes the whole day off as an encounter with an unpleasant eccentric. But he can't ignore the rapid downward spiral of events: the attack by a super-strong thug in the parking lot, the murder of a friend, the appearance of his dead friend's reanimated head. Occasional chapters narrated in the third person introduce readers to the intrigues of Seattle's mystical underworld, with its Council led by an evil necromancer and its packs of fey hound-werewolf crossbreeds. When Douglas, the evil necromancer, kidnaps Sam outright, the adventure takes a turn to the downright gruesome, with semi-graphic descriptions of torture (interspersed with occasionally steamy romantic interludes). Despite uneven pacing and abandoned plot threads, this quirky urban fantasy will compel fans of horror and supernatural romance--and heroic skateboarding slackers. (Urban fantasy. YA)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-This sometimes goofy, sometimes gory debut novel introduces Sam, a fast-food employee in Seattle who has grown up unaware of his ability to raise the dead. After a bizarre encounter with a customer, he gets a beating from a stranger, and his coworker shows up missing her body below the neck (a misfortune that does not affect her positive attitude). It seems that Douglas, an evil local necromancer, has become aware of Sam's powers and views him as a threat. With the help of his friends-and a very attractive werewolf girl-Sam must try to tap into his necromancing abilities to beat Douglas at his own game. Some of the jokes, like the punning chapter titles that quote song lyrics from the likes of the Eurythmics, '70s-era Paul Simon, and Timbuk 3, may be lost on many of today's teens. However, for fans of horror-humor hybrids like the film Shaun of the Dead, this book may hold some appeal.-Hayden Bass, Seattle Public Library, WA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2010
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Sam has dropped out of college and is stalled in a fast-food job in Seattle. Interrupting the boredom of days waiting on Plumpy customers and evenings watching old movies with his friends, a scary guy named Douglas enters Sams world. After a few pithy verbal threats, Douglas has Sam beaten and mauled by a sidekickand later delivers teen Brookes pretty blond head to Sams door. The good news is that Brooke seems to be in no pain and is as sassy as ever. The bad news, as Sam finds out in short order, is that Douglas is a necromancer and has identified Sam, who hasnt a clue what his strengths are, as a rival. Before the week is out, Sam finds himself in a cellar, caged with another pretty girl, who is part werewolf, part fairy. And then theres Ashley, the parochial-school-uniformed 10-year-old who can orchestrate salvation for Sam by using her Blackberry and brains. With fine writing, tight plotting, a unique and uniquely odd cast of teens, adults, and children, and a pace that smashes through any curtain of disbelief, this sardonic and outrageous storys only problem is that it must, like all good things, come to an end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2011
Sam thought the creepy nightmares of his childhood were benign, never realizing they were part of his ability to commune with the dead. Once he's recognized by an evil necromancer, Sam must quickly learn how to marshal his paranormal abilities in order to save his friends and avoid being destroyed. The story is well paced and features clever dialogue.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)