March 1, 2010
In the second book of her Soul Screamers series, Vincent takes on themes of fame and marketing while further developing her world of bean sidhes (aka banshees) and grim reapers. Kaylee Cavanaugh is coming to grips with being a banshee, but at least she can confide in her banshee boyfriend, Nash, and his brother, Tod, a grim reaper. When she witnesses the death of teen pop star Eden and doesn't scream, she knows something is wrong. They discover Eden's soul is missing, sold to a hellion in exchange for fame and fortune. Worse, next on the list to die and suffer eternal torment is Tod's ex-girlfriend, Addison. The trio discovers a large-scale plot by a media conglomerate to convince talented teens to sell their souls or suffer a career crash and tabloid humiliation. While Vincent's story is enjoyable, she glosses over the religious/spiritual aspect to souls, and it feels a little easy to have such a thinly disguised media empire (which specializes in "child-friendly, shiny-happy sitcoms.... squeaky-clean animated fairy tales") as her villain. Ages 14-up.