Description
“[40 Days in Hicksville] is worth a read, and is a great example of the power of a well-written dual-perspective narrative.” — Canadian Review of Materials
Every small town has a dark past. Kate is learning that this town’s dark past involves her family.
Fifteen-year-old Kate didn’t want to be dragged into her mother’s past. She had a boyfriend, a life, and a future as an online influencer whose urban exploration videos were growing in popularity.
But here she is, in the place she thinks of as “Hicksville,” and she’s getting to know far more about the town than she ever wanted. After she and her new friend Zach make a ghastly discovery in a local crevasse, she finds herself investigating a decades-old mystery that has haunted the community … and her family. People from her mother’s past — and her own — resurface as Kate and Zach uncover secrets that could rewrite history.Prizes
- SYRCA Snow Willow AwardWinner 2024
- Forest of Reading – Red MapleWinner 2025
- YA Dude Books Reviewers' Choice AwardsWinner 2025
Review Quotes
“Christina Kilbourne’s 40 Days in Hicksville is a suspenseful novel that will be enjoyed by readers who enjoy mystery, murder and plot twists.”
“40 Days in Hicksville could be a true crime podcast, unravelling the story through Kate and Zach's eyes — chapters are alternating perspectives of the two teens — and with the twists and turns that often come with a thriller. Christina Kilbourne, author of The Limitless Sky, Safe Harbour, and Dear Jo, takes us to a small Ontario town as if the setting for an episode of Dateline or 20/20, unravelling the mystery with each interview and piece of evidence and investigative step of the police. And, as in those in-depth investigations of the news magazine shows, the trajectory from missing person to justice is not a straight line.”
“[40 Days in Hicksville] is worth a read, and is a great example of the power of a well-written dual-perspective narrative.”
— Canadian Review of Materials
“Kilbourne brilliantly builds the tension in the story as each character is forced to face their deepest emotions, from desire and apathy at the beginning to anger and the guilt that comes from generational trauma later in the story.”
— YA Dude Books
