Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera (review)

Rivera, Lilliam Never Look Back. Bloomsbury, 2020 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781547603732 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781547603749 $13.29 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-10

Bronx boy Pheus lives for music and good times; Eury and her mother were forced to leave Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and now she's in New York for the summer, escaping what her mother thinks are just post-hurricane nerves. As the two alternate narration they fall for each other, but it also becomes clear that Eury has long been dogged by Ato, the spirit of Death himself, who's resolved that Eury belong only to him. When Pheus gets his big break at a sinister club, Ato catches Eury alone and takes her back with him to the underworld, but Pheus is determined to retrieve her. This Latinx New York adaptation of Orpheus and Eurydice smartly laces classical references throughout the text but still maintains a credible present story of a golden-voiced boy ducking his jealous friend-with-benefits (Melaina, an update on Melpomene, muse of tragedy) and falling in love with a shy girl from the island. The underworld itself is less interesting and well structured than the aboveground developments, but Rivera adds layers by including indigenous mythology, and there's genuine suspense in Pheus and Eury's journey out of the place (and it's satisfying that Rivera ultimately gives Eury agency she doesn't have in the original). Readers won't need to know the myth to find this an absorbing supernatural romance, and it may make the classically adept look at the familiar story with fresh eyes.