About the Book
-
Author:
- Cheryl Isaacs
- Genre:
- Horror
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- Native / Indigenous
- Straight
Cover Story: Perfect, and Perfectly Creepy
Drinking Buddy: Awkward First Date
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (cosmic horror)
Talky Talk: When I Was Seventeen…
Bonus Factors: Book Store, Old People
Bromance Status: To Be Read in the Dark
Cover Story: Perfect, and Perfectly Creepy
It was the cover that drew me to this one, and kudos to the designer. We have a great version of Avery (though I can’t recall the author saying her hair was that long). We have the black water, the Ragged Man, even her turtle pendant. More, please.
The Deal:
High school athlete Avery likes running, working in a used bookstore, and her friend Key (not her boyfriend, though she wouldn’t say no to that). She gives little thought to the odd spate of missing persons near her town of Crook’s Falls, her mother’s warnings never to leave the trail while running, or her Kanien’kehà:ka (Mohawk) heritage. That is until the day she strays from the path and takes a jog through the woods, where she discovers an unhealthy pond full of black water. And soon, she’s seeing the water everywhere, bubbling up from drains and creeks…even her cup of tea. And no one else can see it. Now she’s noticing strange, unearthly people watching her. Worst of all, Key has vanished…into the woods.
With the help of grumpy old man Foster, bookseller Frank, her great-aunt Lily, and her ditzy friend Stella, Avery fights something very dark and unforgiving in the woods for Key’s soul.
Drinking Buddy: Awkward First Date
Avery and Key were adorable, stealing each other’s food, buying each other presents, and holding hands. But they’re not dating. Even though they clearly have the hots for each other and Avery looks like the girl on the book cover. That was kind of the most unbelievable part, that it took Key getting possessed by a soul-stealing evil for them to finally admit their feelings.
On top of all this, Avery is dealing with her parents’ divorce. After years of fighting, silence, and pretending everything was okay, Avery asked them over dinner one night if they were going to divorce. And that was enough. Her father moved out. While Avery is old enough to know it wasn’t her fault, she can’t help but feel kind of guilty.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (cosmic horror)
Dark water bubbling up from nowhere. Old people refusing to tell the truth about the past. Strange men and faceless children watching Avery at every turn.
That was about the entire first half of the book, and to be honest, it started to get repetitive. Only when Key vanished did the action start to ramp up. It’s when she’s digging up old, haunted bones does the scariness really begin.
Talky Talk: When I Was Seventeen…
When you’re a teenager, sometimes it feels the weight of the world is on your shoulders. After her parents’ divorce–which Avery still blames herself for–there’s not enough money for her to go to college, unless she can earn an athletic scholarship. She’d like to tell Key how she feels, but…what if he doesn’t feel the same way? She knows she should take more interest in her heritage, but sometimes it all seems old-fashioned and irrelevant. And on top of all that, a nameless, timeless evil has re-awoken in Crook’s Falls, and she may be the only one able to stop it. Of course, you know how well adults listen to teenagers. When Key is reported missing, the cops refuse to believe that Avery is not his girlfriend, and the minor spat they had is turned into prime motivation for his disappearance. ‘Obviously, he’s angry with his girlfriend and ran off somewhere to sulk. You know how teenage drama is. The boy will be back in a couple of days and everything will be just fine.’
Bonus Factor: Old People
With the police useless and Avery unable to go to her mother, she turns to the people who understand a thing or two about Kanien’kehà:ka culture and legends: Elder Foster, her great-aunt Lily, and Frank, who owns the bookstore where she works. They’ve all seen things. They were badasses in their youths. They might know more about the black water and how to stop it than anyone else. That is, if their aching knees and backs will let them go traipsing through the woods.
In an especially funny scene, Avery is trying to get advice from Lily when Foster shows up. To see Lily. With a bouquet of flowers.
Bonus Factor: Book Store
Avery’s family is not rich, and she works part time. And instead of the normal dual hells of food service or retail, Avery works at Frank’s Books, a cozy little used book shop. Frank is grandfatherly, drinks so much coffee that he vibrates, and doesn’t mind Key hanging out during Avery’s shifts. Me, I was one of those annoying clipboard market research people at the mall when I was in high school, but hey, enjoy reading at work, Avery.
Bromance Status: To Be Read in the Dark
Not scary enough to have to have all the lights on, but creepy enough to read in bed at night and give you just the right amount of shivers. Of course, when you’re my age, black water boiling up through a drain just means a hefty plumber’s bill is coming…and that’s the most frightening story of all.
Literary Matchmaking
The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude doesn’t have the same plot, but almost the same cover.
Holly Schindler’s Feral has a different cover, but a similar plot.
Cyn Balog’s Dead River has a similar plot and a similar cover.
FTC full disclosure: I received a free copy of the book from Heartdrum Publishing, but no money or triple espressos.
