Before the Devil Breaks You: A Diviners Novel
by Libba Bray; read by January LaVoy
High School    Listening Library    Rev. 3/18
17 CDs    21.35 hrs.    978-0-449-80883-2    $70.00

LaVoy reprises her excellent narration for this third volume in the series starring a diverse group of teens with extrasensory abilities in 1920s New York City. Here the Diviners fight both supernatural and human evils on many fronts while they continue to seek the truth about their own origins. The otherworldly horrors are deeply intertwined with societal ones — such as WWI, eugenics, and murderous labor disputes — as well as the teens’ personal struggles. Despite the book’s length and the series’ ever-
growing cast of primary characters, LaVoy adeptly maintains tension throughout, fully and convincingly embodying each voice, from the individual Diviners (effervescent flapper Evie, romantic poet Memphis, determined activist Mabel, pre-teen seer Isaiah) to the chilling King of Crows and his army of vengeful ghosts.

From the November/December 2018 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.