donna backshall's Reviews > Summer of Night

If I'd actually read Summer of Night instead of listening to the Audible version, I never would have made it across the finish line. This is a LOOOONG novel. A beast of a book, one might say. But it's a worthy investment, this "beast".

As the reader, you are welcomed into 1960's Elm Haven, a small and not even approaching middle class town in rural Illinois. You settle in as a nostalgic resident while a tragic story slowly unfolds. Something is wrong because something was very wrong before. Only the kids who should be enjoying a wholesome summer of pickup baseball and camping under the stars seem to understand what is happening. You get to know each of the boys and their genuinely flawed families. You learn everyone's habits and look forward to town events. You expect who will figure out what, and when. You invest yourself in this one dusty summer, where the reality starts to rip apart.

I won't give anything away, except to say that if truly brutal deaths aren't your cup of tea, this probably isn't the book for you. Summer of Night may focus on elementary school aged boys trying to solve a 60 year old town mystery, but this is not a young YA book by any stretch of the imagination. It gets gruesome and gory, and those terrifying bumps in the night are often deadly.