The Dark We Know

Starred review from May 20, 2024
When her physically abusive father dies, 18-year-old bisexual art student Isadora Chang returns to the old mining town of Slater after two years away. While she’s there collecting her part of the inheritance, Isa must also redo her portfolio after botching her showcase by submitting pieces that didn’t reflect the theme—and that she has no recollection of creating. Initially reluctant to interact with townspeople, she’s soon approached by estranged friend Mason Kane. He embroils her in his investigation of the disappearance of “town princess” Paige Vandersteen and how it connects to the deaths by suicide of their two best friends from childhood, as well as other seemingly unexplainable moments from Isa’s life. Balanced prose with the pace of an unrelenting thriller details Isa’s internal struggles with her and Mason’s quest to free the town from a mysterious entity. In this enthralling horror debut, Lee carefully threads together Isa’s reconnecting with her past, unearthing the secrets that Slater is built on, and navigating the way that shame distorts one’s sense of self. Isa is Chinese American; supporting characters are racially diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Isabel Kaufman, Fox Literary.

Starred review from June 1, 2024
Children are dying in the eerie town of Slater--and Isa's been unknowingly drawing their deaths before they occur. Eighteen-year-old Isadora Chang left home two years ago in the wake of the tragic suicides of close friends Wren and Zach, the only other people of color her age. But the new life she's built comes crashing down when her art school portfolio showcase consists of gruesome sketches rather than pieces on her proposed theme. Although her professor grants her an extension, completing the work necessary to retain her scholarship feels like an insurmountable task, especially after she's persuaded to go home for her abusive father's funeral. Returning to Slater means reuniting with Mason, the only other surviving member of their friend group. It also means hearing the mountains sing to her again. As a bisexual Chinese American girl in a highly Christian quarry town, Isa always felt that staying put would mean death. This fear is heightened when Mason seeks her help: He believes that Wren and Zach were murdered by a mysterious force and that Isa may be the key to solving everything. Told in Isa's resonant first-person voice, this debut transcends the supernatural mystery genre with its emotional depth and engaging setting. As a contemplative alternative to action-focused horror, its striking explorations of grief, shame, love, and queerness will haunt readers with how true they ring. A powerful, introspective gothic tale filled to the brim with horror. (Horror. 14-18)

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Starred review from July 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* The mountain sings, and children die. Isadora Chang has always heard the song, and it's the fallout from a close friend's apparent suicide that drove her to run away from her small town two years prior. When she has to return to Slater following her abusive father's death and learns that another former classmate has gone missing, Isa finds herself teaming up with her final living childhood friend to save Slater's children once and for all. The narrative is told largely from Isa's POV, with interstitial chapters titled ""We"" that give voice to the supernatural entity that haunts the children of the town, preying on feelings of shame and otherness. Refreshingly, although three of the most significant characters (including Isa) are queer, ""We"" is not seen to specifically target their queerness. It focuses instead on all feelings of inadequacy and shame that are part of teen experiences, forcing the characters to reckon with both personal and intergenerational trauma inflicted by the heart of their small town. The narrative hits traditional horror beats, but the characters have more depth than many genre installments provide, which both slows the pacing and increases the stakes during Isa's brushes with the supernatural. Readers will find thrills, chills, and emotional validation from this unexpectedly almost-heartwarming horror novel.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 30, 2024

Gr 9 Up-A funeral-her abusive father's funeral, to be exact-is what brings art student Isadora Chang back to her hometown; all she has to do is stick around long enough to get her share of the inheritance she's owed. But it isn't easy for her: Slater is a dying mining town still under the thumb of the mine's founders, the illustrious Vandersteens, and as the collapse of the mines has choked the life out of the town, so too has it suffocated bisexual Isa. The town's religious undercurrents, her father's adherence to such, and her mother's silence never made her feel as if she belonged. When two of her best friends, track star Zach and Isa's unrequited crush Wren, seemingly took their own lives within weeks of one another, Isa left Slater and her only surviving friend Mason, and never looked back. Then Mason shows up at the service pleading for help-Paige Vandersteen, teen heiress, has gone missing, Mason was the last person who saw her alive, and he's pretty sure that she, Zach, and Wren were all taken by the same supernatural entity. Slater's secret, tragic, violent history comes roiling to the forefront. Lyrical, sorrowful, and oozing with anguish, Lee's debut novel fully embraces the Gothic tradition and fills every page with dread. Sincere characterizations of queer teens forging relationships in the face of sadness and terror buoy the narrative, which is as bleak and desolate as Slater itself. The verbose prose may turn off some readers, but those wading in will be rewarded with a tale of true terror. VERDICT An instant YA horror classic. Highly recommended.-Tyler Hixson

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