BOOK REVIEW: BURN DOWN, RISE UP BY VINCENT TIRADO

21/6/2022

Burn Down, Rise Up (2022)
Vincent Tirado

Review by: Mark Walker

Available at AMAZON
ISBN-10: 1728246008
ISBN-13: 978-1728246008

Vincent Tirado’s prose is smooth and unfussy, but evocative and it draws you in. BDRU is a gateway drug for horror, perfect for any budding horror fans

Mysterious disappearances. An urban legend rumored to be responsible. And one group of friends determined to save their city at any cost. Stranger Things meets Jordan Peele in this utterly original debut from an incredible new voice.

For over a year, the Bronx has been plagued by sudden disappearances that no one can explain. Sixteen-year-old Raquel does her best to ignore it. After all, the police only look for the white kids. But when her crush Charlize's cousin goes missing, Raquel starts to pay attention-especially when her own mom comes down with a mysterious illness that seems linked to the disappearances.

Raquel and Charlize team up to investigate, but they soon discover that everything is tied to a terrifying urban legend called the Echo Game. The game is rumored to trap people in a sinister world underneath the city, and the rules are based on a particularly dark chapter in New York's past. And if the friends want to save their home and everyone they love, they will have to play the game and destroy the evil at its heart-or die trying.

One of the best things about writing reviews for Ginger Nuts is being able to find new writers and new worlds and pick books that sound like they are right up your street.

What is even more amazing is when you DON’T ask for a particular book and, with a mild communication hiccup, you get sent something that may well not have shown up on your radar otherwise.

Burn Down, Rise Up is one such surprise. It’s not like I deliberately didn’t ask for it, my attention was just grabbed by other books before BDRU. I have read a few Young Adult novels and enjoyed them, but they aren’t necessarily my first choice when looking for a new book. Although, having said that, I realise I have one sat next to me on my desk in the To Be Read pile!

But I’m glad there was some confusion, because I really liked BDRU.

The story opens with a character literally running for their lives. Vincent Tirado knows how to grab the reader’s interest and they don’t let go for the next 300 odd pages.

As the cover blurb tells us, Raquel and her friends have to navigate their way through a mysterious game that may have led to people disappearing, and maybe even killed a few, in order to save her own mom and their friend Cisco who is missing after playing the game – the chap running for his life at the start of the story.

And there you have the horror – a high stake game where, if you are lucky, you die quickly.

But you also get great characters who are facing the usual teenage stuff that makes life so difficult to navigate. It’s bad enough having to deal with school, parents and unrequited love, but once you throw love-rivals, neglected friendships, nosey cops and giant centipedes, life goes and gets a lot more complicated.

Frustratingly I can’t get into the plot much more than I have because I don’t want to give anything away. I wouldn’t say that there are lots of plot twists and turns in BDRU, it isn’t that kind of tale, but the game they play is woven into the history of the Bronx and I enjoyed learning about that at the same time as the characters did. To tell you much more about it would ruin the cleverness and originality of the game and how it relates to their neighbourhood. The fact that you get a great story is good enough, but BDRU embeds itself in the past and will, if you are anything like me, lead you off into the depths of the internet to find out more about what was a shocking period in history for those communities. Not only is this a kick-ass YA novel, it also has a serious message underpinning it.

While there are shades of other books and films, I thought it was a fairly original take and something that I haven’t seen in quite the same way before. There are elements here of Stranger Things with missing kids and a version of the “upside down” but with a fresh take and a cast of normally under-represented characters in a non-typical setting. There is more of a connection for Raquel and her friends with their version of the Upside Down which clearly reflects the harsher realities facing ethnic minorities today and how, in many ways, it hasn’t changed over the years.

Otherwise, the focus is on the characters, their relationships and how the adversity Raquel faces brings her back to old friends and pushes relationships to new levels; it’s a coming of age story, but potentially more embedded in reality than many cute, ‘realistic’ teen dramas. The characters are all believable and all the right ones are likeable. The central relationship between Raquel and Aaron is nicely developed and they have a great rapport with each other, which makes it all the more challenging for both when things come between them. The relationships just feel natural. Raquel’s parents are separated, but that doesn’t seem to define her, although it has clearly shaped her and potentially made her stronger – you don’t mess with the girl on the front cover of this book!

Vincent also doesn’t shy away from the darker side of YA horror (Amazon has it as Action and Adventure, but I would definitely see it as Horror (just wait until you join them in the Echo game) and all that comes with it; monsters, evil, injury, terror and death are all here. If you get stuck in the ECHO, you don’t tend to have a happy ending.

I wish I could talk more about it, without giving too much away, suffice to say, I enjoyed BDRU and I would recommend it to anyone with a love for YA fiction, but urge everyone else to give it a try. Vincent Tirado’s prose is smooth and unfussy, but evocative and it draws you in. BDRU is a gateway drug for horror, perfect for any budding horror fans and, while Amazon pegs this at 14-18 years olds, I don’t see anything in here that would be too shocking for mature kids of 12 and over – but that is just my opinion! Due diligence people – don’t get yourself into trouble like my grandparents, sending me a copy of Pet Sematary when I was 10! From those opening moments to the ending, this book could easily be a film, or I could certainly see this as a limited Netflix series. And I would definitely be here for more from these characters.