Clever Creatures of the Night

December 11, 2023
A determined teen dealing with PTSD and drug dependency searches the woods of rural Texas for her missing best friend in this ticking-clock thriller from Mabry (Tigers Not Daughters). Latinx high school graduate Case Lopez has been recovering from a traumatic house fire in which she nearly died, which has kept her away from her best friend, Andrea Soto, also Latinx. When she finally gets to visit Drea’s house, where she lives with fellow teens at the edge of a sinister forest, Drea is nowhere to be found. Worse, Drea’s roommates refuse to answer questions concerning her whereabouts, prompting suspicion from Case, who’s certain that they’re hiding something. With no cell service and feeling isolated, Case works to unravel the mystery of Drea’s disappearance before she winds up missing as well. A stagnant plot and lackluster character development driven by terse conversation and meandering action stymie the anticipatory urgency of the 24-hour premise. Still, the evocative setting—complete with eerie woods, a claustrophobic mountain landscape, and the sudden appearance of aggressive animals—ups the tension of this jam-packed read, which somewhat clumsily juggles lightheartedness and disturbing happenings and stars a heroine worth rooting for. Ages 14–up. Agent: Claire Anderson-Wheeler, Regal Hoffman and Associates.

January 1, 2024
A missing friend and her strange roommates send a recent high school graduate on a quest for answers. Case Lopez's family moved from tiny Millsap, Texas, to Fort Worth, leaving behind Andrea, Case's close childhood friend. The girls had dreamed of the wider world--and Case is excited to be heading to the University of Oregon on scholarship. But after Drea invites her to visit the remote Texas town where she's been living with a group of mostly white friends, Case arrives to find Drea missing. She questions the pretense of Drea's evasive roommates' supposedly utopian rural lifestyle, wondering what they're hiding and what extremes they might be capable of. The chapters count down the 24 hours of Case's visit, and the tension mounts as she tries to discern where her feelings of mistrust end and the real threats begin. Case's search to uncover what happened to Drea leads to some self-doubt: In this slow-building study of paranoia and persistence, she wonders whether she's being gaslit or if she can trust her perceptions. Case's internal narrative frames the story, which also includes Drea's journal entries and letters, each adding clues to what the residents of the eerie house are concealing. Case's and Drea's Latine identities and the racism they face heighten strains with the silent, hostile roommates. The pace sometimes wavers, but this tale delivers an emotional intensity that will appeal to fans of atmospheric thrillers and character-driven psychological suspense. A chilling character study. (Horror. 14-18)

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January 1, 2024
Grades 10-12 Mabry weaves dread through the air like smoke in this literary horror novel set in the aftermath of a cataclysmic natural disaster. Case arrives on the outskirts of her old Texas hometown, six months after a volcano has exploded, excited to visit her best friend one last time before leaving for college. But when she finds the dilapidated house Drea wrote to her about, there are only sullen roommates, strangely aggressive animals, and the ever-present stench of ash to greet her. Through dropped hints and hidden journal entries, Case begins to piece together the story of the last six months and why her best friend is missing. But tensions are rising and so is the river--it may be too late for any of them. Despite a slow first half, Mabry's blend of gritty realism and ethereal fantastic elements create a spine-chilling read about our relationship with nature, the consequences of disasters, and our humanity in the face of them.

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February 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Case travels back to her hometown in rural Texas to reconnect with her old friend Drea before heading to her first year of college. When she arrives at the isolated house, she meets Drea's mysterious roommates: Kendall, her younger sister Steph, and Troy. After a volcanic eruption decimated much of the town, Drea was invited by her roommates to stay at the house. The first sign that something is wrong-Drea is nowhere to be found. According to Troy (Drea's love interest from the letters she wrote to Case), Drea moved out a few days ago. But why would she invite a friend to visit if she didn't plan to stick around? And why wouldn't Drea tell anyone where she was going? Case only has one night to learn all she can about her missing friend, searching the house for clues and trying to glean information from the tight-lipped roommates. Mabry's unique, twisted, literary thriller is packed with brutally honest depictions of the violence of nature and the cycle of life and death. Drea is of Guatemalan descent and Case is described as a "minority," while most other characters cue as white. Throughout this artfully crafted novel, Case explores past trauma, which bonded her to her friend-a fire in which Drea made it out unscathed and Case did not. VERDICT An honestdepiction of young adults trying to find their place in the world, recommended for teens who love poetic language and endings that leave them craving more.-Ashley Grillo

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