Wanna Hang in a Graveyard Late at Night?

 

TITLE: Graveyard Shift

AUTHOR: M.L. Rio

PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books

PUBLISHING DATE: September 24, 2024

PAGES: 126   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story. 

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom? 

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks—and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

MY THOUGHTS: Let me start by saying that I feel this book is 75% atmosphere and 25% plot.  In addition, there is kind of an open ending so if that bothers you, keep that in mind before picking it up.  However, I hate open-ended books for the most part, yet this one didn't bother me at all so either I've grown or else this is an oddball.  Either way, I am very glad I grabbed this one from my library when I saw it on the New Release shelf.

Every night five characters from different walks of life meet in a graveyard near the local college.  They have very little in common but all five agree they are insomniacs. Something is happening in town which they are all interested in for their own reasons - people are suddenly turning violent and out of control.  Together, they all play a part in investigating what is going on which may be related to research going on at the college.  Oh, and rats and fungi.  Can't forget that.

I loved the darkness of this book.  The characters are all highly flawed, but I enjoyed seeing them connect in sometimes non-traditional manners.  I also felt this was the perfect for a novella length tale.  I've not read If We Were Villains but own a copy I will definitely be picking up in 2025 now.  I can see why people rave about Rio's writing style and am interested in checking out anything she might produce in the future. I really don't have any complaints about this book and found it a completely enjoyable shorter read.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS