Echo After Echo

Starred review from September 4, 2017
Capetta (Entangled) seamlessly weaves a murder mystery and stirring love story into a suspenseful novel set in Manhattan’s theater community. “Backbiting” doesn’t begin to evoke the menacing atmosphere of Broadway’s Aurelia Theater, to which Pennsylvania high school senior Zara impulsively sends an audition tape for her favorite Greek tragedy, Echo and Ariston. That the intimidating and world-famous director Leopold Henneman selects Zara for Echo is only one of many shocks: there’s the dead body Zara finds on her first day
in the Aurelia, a second death during rehearsals, and the ominous warnings that begin to come Zara’s way. Then there is 19-year-old Eliza “Eli” Vasquez, the assistant lighting designer who is immediately drawn to Zara. As Zara struggles through rehearsals with her celebrity costar and one-on-one sessions with director Henneman, who is prone to frightening visions, she is also falling for Eli. A complex cast of suspicious characters, a relentless undercurrent of fear, sophisticated plot development, and the lyrical language Capetta uses to describe Zara’s and Eli’s passion for their work and for each other make this an exceptionally compelling read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

September 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-An old and glamorous theater with a storied past. A demonic director who sees visions. A plain but gifted ingenue, on her own for the first time in the big city. Fierce young love. Dangerous loyalties. Secrets, lies, and murder. This novel has it all, from the ancient costume designer to the movie star lead to the disappointed chorus girl. Seventeen-year-old Zara has dreamt of the theater her whole life, and has lived and breathed the classic Echo and Ariston, but she has never been in love. When her naivete and raw talent get her cast in a new Broadway production, she is immediately entangled in the decades-old feuds, deceptions, destruction, and despair that haunt the old Aurelia Theater. She also has a burning, inescapable passion for Eli, the young, tattooed, and talented lighting designer who has demons of her own. Cliches are inescapable as Capetta's tale of theater, romance, and murderous mystery unfolds. However, the author embraces them fully and manages to inject a sincerity into this familiar story line. Winter deepens, and the plot thickens. As icicles and blood drip everywhere, the narrative becomes more predictable, but readers won't be able to look away until the final reveal. VERDICT Cliched but classy, this is a theater tale and murder mystery for passionate readers.-Katya Schapiro, Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
What do you do when all your dreams come true? What happens if those dreams have a nightmarish edge? Capetta explores the consequences of soured dreams in her latest.When 18-year-old Jewish Zara is cast in her dream roll of Echo in a Broadway production of the Greek tragedy Echo and Ariston, she believes all her hopes are falling into place. It seems even so when she falls unexpectedly for 19-year-old Latina lighting designer Eli (short for Eliza). Yet, amid the thrill of the stage and new romance, signs of cracks in the facade begin to appear. Almost as soon as she arrives in New York City to begin rehearsals, mysterious deaths begin to occur, and eventually Zara herself is in danger. Capetta deftly shifts the tone of the third-person-limited narrator in each chapter to highlight the distinct personalities and motives of the main characters. The style tries to balance the novel between a literary romance and a psychological thriller, occasionally faltering. The suspenseful plot can become tangled in metaphor, hampering the action, especially at the climax. Nevertheless, this tale will appeal to older teen audiences and likely some adults who enjoy their thrillers steamy, with more than a dash of romance.A twisted tale of theater, conspiracy, and romance that, like its protagonist, sometimes struggles with a minor identity crisis. (Romantic thriller. 14-adult)

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September 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 All theaters have their ghosts, but death is another matter. Death is exactly what Zara Evans encounters when she comes to the Aurelia Theater. New to professional theater, Zara has nevertheless been cast as Echo in the Greek tragedy Echo and Ariston, a role she's always coveted. The legendaryand difficultdirector Leopold Henneman, who claims to have visions, helms the production, and he demands excellence, something that's easier said than done when members of the cast and crew start dying and people start saying the theater is haunted. As tragedies, both onstage and off, roll through the Aurelia, Zara grows close to Eli Vasquez, the assistant lighting designer. The two girls' friendship blossoms into romance, and for Zara, it's a light in a world that grows darker by the day: curse or no curse, there is something wicked in the Aurelia. With timeless, literary prose, Capetta spins a tale that is haunting indeed. Part love story and part mystery, this eerie offering studded with intriguing, secretive characters is beautiful and strange.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Zara is living her dream: cast from obscurity to star in a classic Greek tragedy with a famous director in a legendary NYC theater; and she's falling in love with gorgeous lighting assistant Eliza ("Eli"). However, mysterious deaths--possibly related to a curse on the theater--threaten the girls' idyll. Murder-mystery meets psychological thriller meets sweeping romance in a story both tragic and beautiful.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)