Dells Are Scary!

 

TITLE: What Grows in the Dark

AUTHOR: Jaq Evans

PUBLISHER: MIRA

PUBLISHING DATE: March 5, 2024

PAGES: 304   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: In this chilling contemporary horror novel, a phony spiritualist returns to her hometown to assist in an investigation that eerily mirrors her sister’s death, forcing her to confront the secrets she’s been running from. 

Sixteen years ago, Brigit Weylan’s older sister, Emma, walked into the woods in their small hometown of Ellis Creek. She never walked out. People said she was troubled—in the months leading up to her death, she was convinced there was a monster in those trees. Marked by the tragedy, Brigit left town and never looked back. 

Now Brigit travels around the country investigating paranormal activity (and faking the results) with her cameraman, Ian. But when she receives a call from Ellis Creek, she’s thrust into the middle of a search for two missing teenagers. As Brigit and Ian are drawn further into the case, the parallels to Emma’s death become undeniable. And worse, Brigit can’t explain what’s happening to trees appearing in her bedroom in the middle of the night, something with a very familiar laugh watching her out in the darkness and Emma’s voice on her phone, reminding Brigit to finish what they started. 

More and more, it looks like Emma was right -- there is a monster in Ellis Creek, and it’s waited a long time for Brigit to come home.

MY THOUGHTS: I pretty much went into this book blindly after being asked if I wanted to be a part of a tour.  I remember reading the synopsis, thinking it sounded good, and then forgetting what it was about.  So, when I picked this up over the weekend, I was thinking it was a thriller.  While I would say this book is definitely suspenseful, it is actually tagged as a horror and horror is what I got.

Brigit and her friend Ian make a living going town to town and communicating with the dead.  Their spin is that Brigit is assisted by her dead sister Emma's spirit.  They manage to eke out a living but there is one main problem, they are fakes. Brigit has always been guarded due to something that happened in Ellis Creek, her hometown, when she was young which led to her sister's suicide.  Brigit has blocked out a lot of what happened but is forced to remember when her sister's high school girlfriend reaches out and tells Brigit more kids are going missing in Ellis Creek, and it may be tied to what happened to Emma.  Brigit and Ian return and not only is Brigit forced to deal with all the suppressed memories, she also soon finds herself battling the entity which lives in the dell.

I enjoyed this book but have to admit I never really felt a connection to any of the characters and in this case, I think that connection might have helped.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by the body horror aspects included and if you are a fan, then this is a book you should definitely consider.  I also felt the author did a great job of making this a very inclusive tale without giving the feeling that she was just checking of boxes to meet some guideline.  The ending was pretty dramatic, and it took basically the whole book for me to figure out what was happening in Ellis Creek.  This book is a strong debut, and I will definitely keep my eyes on this author.

MY RATING: 3 PAWS