The premise is intriguing, the execution was a little disappointing. Seven young people are planning a night in the basement of William E Woodend Rare Books Library, the night before their graduation from a prestigious Vermont University. Davey, who works as a student assistant in the library whilst studying for his PhD is hoping to get a permanent position at the library. He has planned a ritual based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone.
The young people are a mixed group of four young women and three young men. The ritual promises chanting, spirituality and drugs. The basement’s concrete, conveniently for the plot, blocked out all cellphone reception. The group were effectively locked in the basement together with no possible contact with the outside world until the library was opened up in the morning.
The pacing is uneven, the first quarter of the book introduces us to the various participants, the POV flits between them, some of the group take acid in place of the kykeon the ancient Greeks would have taken, but nothing much happens until one of the participants starts coughing up blood and the lights go out. This is a locked room whodunnit mystery with a few twists. Staging the book in Vermont with a group of pretentious students, gives the book that Secret History vibe but with more blood, it is fascinating which rare books prove the best at mopping up the copious amounts of blood spilled. The suspense and the paranoia build as the night wears on, the characters’ views are unreliable as most are under the influence of LSD.
The characters are well fleshed out but I wasn’t particularly invested in any one of them, and wasn’t bothered who died and who survived.
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC! The views expressed are my own and I leave them voluntarily. That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk comes out on June 11, 2024.
My rating three out of five.
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