Hey everyone! Welcome to another book review for a new release. Initially, this was supposed to be a "15 Reactions While Reading This Book" post for a book tour, but because of a family thing, I couldn't post on time and had to back out. Nevertheless, I did manage to finish this book once everything was settled, and am so excited to be talking about it.
I received this book an arc via NetGalley, on participating in a book tour for TBRBeyondTours. This in no way influences my opinion of the book.
Hide and run. I’ll count from ten, then join the fun. Say a prayer and bow your head. If my light finds you, you’ll be dead. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Ready or not, here I come. I’m Dempsey Fontenot. You better run.
“How do you keep a secret in a town full of psychics?” I ask him, and light flashes bright inside those ice-fire eyes. “You tell the truth,” he answers. “At least part of it.”
“Knowing is hard,” he says, “but it’s a thing you can survive. The not knowing will kill you in the end. It’s the secrets that fester.”
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Publishing date: August 31st, 2021
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Synopsis:
A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.
La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.
This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World–and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey’s best friend, disappeared six months earlier.
Grey can’t believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something – her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.
When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou – a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town’s bloody history – Grey realizes that La Cachette’s past is far more present and dangerous than she’d ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent–and La Cachette’s dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.
My Review
Dark and Shallow Lies was a book that I was truly not expecting to love as much as I did. Obviously, I was hoping to enjoy it- that's why I picked it up. But I was not expecting to love it.
This book was absolutely fantastic and I honestly could not put it down. I don't read a lot of horror, mainly because I had the stereotype of every horror being a remake of The Conjuring, but it's very far from the truth. The story blew me out of the water!
I felt like the synopsis doesn't do it justice, because from the premise it only seems like a regular small town disappearance/ghost story, but oh my God it is so much more!
I love how the author excellently crafted not only the horror elements but the mystery as well. The author so skillfully misleads us with every clue, all while foreshadowing a twist I could not have anticipated- and yet made sense.
The pacing did feel like it really thawed in the middle and things got a little repetitive but then it was crazy right till the end.
It's very creepy, very dark, sinister, and an emotionally charged read. There's a red herring, a twist, and revelation at every turn.
The writing style was perfect and added to the creepy vibe of the story. It's in the first person+ present tense, which makes it feel a lot more urgent and fast-paced.
The setting was brilliantly crafted and it came alive in my eyes with how real it felt. The town of La Cochette, where everybody knows everybody and everyone is some sort of psychic. The bloody history, its secrets, and its dark waters.
Safe to say, the characters, and their backstories, are so messed up! Everyone has some shady secret or the other up their sleeve.
There was also this one character that I still don't know if I love or if I hate. I can't name them or it will be a spoiler, but if you have read the book and know who I'm talking about, just put a warning in your comment and rant away with me.
So that one character did something terrible, but it wasn't entirely their fault. They are so messy, so flawed and cut open, and just have the worst luck that I don't really know how to feel about them.
But they're still a very interesting thing to explore.
I'll just come out and say that characters do die in the story and it's very painful, but the hardest part is that NOT A SINGLE ONE of them deserved to die. Well, except maybe one, and I'm sure there are people conflicted about that too.
There is a lot of mention of death in the story, on and off-page, and even if we didn't actually get to know them, I still felt horrible about it.
This book is really creepy and scary but also so, so sad because of all the things that happen to this town and the people.
About the Author
Ginny Myers Sain is the author of DARK AND SHALLOW LIES, her debut YA novel available 8-31-21 from Razorbill/Penguin. Although she comes from a long line of writers, her first love has always been the theatre. She has a degree in theatre and has spent most of her career teaching acting and directing plays and musicals. Ginny currently live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her teenage son and a very cowardly doberman named Shipley. When she is not working in the theatre or writing, you’re likely to find her listening to true crime podcasts, taking pictures of alligators, eating tacos, or planning a trip to Walt Disney World.
Let's Chat!
Let me know any of your thoughts in the comments! Thank you so much reading.
Bye!
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