The Afterdark

September 30, 2024
When 18-year-old Evie Laurent’s twin sister Ada slips off of a dock and drowns during an argument, Evie is secretly relieved to be free from her torment. Sent to the west coast of Canada to attend elite boarding school Northcroft in Ada’s place, Evie looks forward to a fresh start away from the memory of her manipulative and abusive twin. She’s excited to learn that one of her dorm mates is Holland Morgan, a famous child actress and Evie’s former crush. But even as romantic sparks fly upon their reunion, Evie is unnerved by the strange and sinister undertones of Northcroft: the sundown curfew, the automated blackout blinds, the masked and powerful secret society that runs the school, and the suspicious silence of her father, Principal Blackwood. As Evie investigates, she is forced to reconcile with her inexplicable attraction to the sinister forest surrounding the school and the darkness lurking within herself. While some characters are unevenly developed, Latimer (Escape to Witch City) capably explores violent urges and dangerous obsession in this dark and twisted thriller interspersed with intense and steamy moments of sapphic romance via Evie and Holland’s alternating first-person perspectives. Evie and Holland are white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Silvia Molteni, Peters Fraser + Dunlop.

January 15, 2025
An 18-year-old heads off to school on a mysterious island, but she finds the institution and the nearby forest more sinister than she could have imagined. After her identical twin sister, Ada, drowns, Evie's mom sends her to Northcroft, the school Ada attended. The elite boarding school located on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia was founded by Evie's ancestor, and her absent father is the principal. Upon arriving, Evie runs into TV star Holland, a former classmate and longtime crush--and they share an undeniable attraction. The intensity of their relationship grows even as girls around them go missing. The mysterious disappearances are seemingly linked to the dark, off-limits forest beyond the school's walls and to the Crown and Grave, a secretive, elitist group of legacy students. The forest also appears to be a catalyst for the dark impulses Evie's been feeling for years and which she's having a harder time ignoring. The story's narrative momentum is slow to build, making it difficult to enter the novel's world and connect with the characters. Patient readers will find that the story eventually hits its stride, and the pace quickens in time for a gruesome finale. The queer romantic relationships are highly sexual, although the sex scenes feel unnecessarily redundant, doing little to further the story. Most major characters are coded white. Unevenly paced and overstuffed queer supernatural body horror.(Horror. 14-18)

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March 14, 2025

Gr 10 Up-Ada is dead, and it's her twin sister Evie who must now take her place at ever-exclusive Northcroft, a university for the ultra-elite of the ultra-elite. People like famous actress Holland Morgan, Evie's new dormmate and crush. Northcroft is located on a remote island in a dense forest with a strange curfew. As Evie is quickly drawn into a conspiracy involving secret societies, unsolved murders, and her own absent father, she must figure out what is going on, and quickly; because the trees are calling, and she can only stay away for so long. With engaging, emotionally charged prose, creative worldbuilding, and defined characterization, Latimer quickly establishes a world of entitlement and corruption. Themes of substance abuse, broken families, and financial privilege all provide the background to a complex and dark supernatural fantasy with angst that teens will find relatable. Baked into the setting, the woods surrounding Northcroft possess a tension and creepiness that creates a realistic suspense and enhances the sense of foreboding present from the very start. This title contains mild sexual acts and references. VERDICT As an intense story featuring older teens and young adults, this will do best in collections for mature teens where contemporary fantasy is popular.-Jolie Hanlon

Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 4, 2025
Grades 9-12 After her identical twin sister, Ada, dies in a lurid accident, Evie Laurent is swiftly sent to Northcroft, an elite boarding school, and away from prying eyes. Located on a remote island, the mysterious school is plagued by increasingly disturbing phenomena, all apparently connected to Hemlock Woods--the vast old-growth forest that surrounds it. Amid these strange occurrences, Evie meets Holland Morgan, a young TV star, and the two feel an instant connection. But their burgeoning romance is beset by challenges wrought by painful pasts; dangerously jealous friends; Northcroft's sinister, cultlike secret society; and, of course, the eldritch forest itself, which seems to have a mind and will of its own and is intent on drawing the two young women deeper into its impenetrable darkness. This slow-burning thriller successfully combines contrasting genres such as romance and body horror to deliver a dark, distorted love story with enough shocking revelations to induce whiplash. Ideal for fans of Kate Alice Marshall's YA horror, such as These Fleeting Shadows (2022) and, in particular, The Narrow (2023).

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