Sarah Hollowell: "What Stalks Among Us"

Title: What Stalks Among Us [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Sarah Hollowell [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Contemporary
Year: 2023
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Spectacular premise that delivers all along. Lots of (often literal) twists and turns. Powerful friendship dynamic. Fat rep. Addresses lots of important topics (see the WARNING! section).
Cons: A couple of plot points ended up being red herrings of sorts or getting no explanations.
WARNING! (TW list provided by the author): Physical, emotional, and psychological abuse; aspects of abuse including victim blaming, isolation, manipulation, and gaslighting; mental illness (depression, anxiety, PTSD), self-harm (cutting), death, violence (gunshots, stabbing, strangulation), gore and body horror.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for a time-looping supernatural mystery with a strong contemporary core.

Blurb: Best friends and high school seniors Sadie and Logan ditch their end-of-year field trip to the amusement park in favor of exploring some old, forgotten backroads. The last thing they expect to come across is a giant, abandoned corn maze. When they stumble on the corpses in the maze, identical to them in every way (if you can ignore the stab and gunshot wounds) they quickly realize they’ve not only entered this maze before, they’ve died in it too. A lot. And no matter what they try, they can’t figure out what - or who - is hunting them. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: I requested this book on NetGalley last year to no avail. It turns out that (regardless of my small following, that might very well have been the reason for the rejection) I was a potential champion for it all along, because I kept it on my radar, I ultimately read it all the same and I loved it! (It doesn't hurt that it matches my blog aesthetic so well LOL).

A-MAZE ME

You know that feeling when a book has got an exciting premise, except the story doesn't make it justice? Well, nothing of the sort happened here. What Stalks Among Us (genius title, BTW) delivered on all counts, keeping me on my toes with all the twist and turns of the plot and the setting alike. I was invested in the mystery and the outcome (plus other aspects that I'll talk about later), but regardless, navigating the maze was a ton of fun in itself, a never-ending source of surprises and exhilarating moments. Also, the maze had a timey-wimey quality that I dug a lot, with intersecting temporal planes and even a number of loops - not to mention, it sometimes reacted to its visitors' (or better, prisoners') presence in very specific ways. I have to admit that not every one of the labyrinth's peculiarities made complete sense (neither did its genesis - knowing what I know now, I would have expected something different than a corn maze at the very least): e. g., I'm not sure how two instances of the same character could coexist, since it seemed at odds with the premise, and Sadie's connection to the maze and the significance of the sheep skeleton were never explained (though I have a theory about the former...but then again, it's contradicted by what happened with another character). But on the whole, the worldbuilding was well-executed and full of interesting angles (and paths...and more angles...see what I did here? 😉). [...]

AROUND THE CORN(ER)

For a novel so heavy on the supernatural, WSAU sure packs a punch when it comes to the contemporary aspect. There's a lot of (often intersectional) rep - mainly in the form of a fat, bi female protagonist with PTST and anxiety, and a bi, East Asian male protagonist with his own baggage. Different kinds of abuse are discussed/focused upon, and at least in one instance, shown. Friendship is a driving force, and I found it both refreshing and heartwarming to read a story centered on two teens who share a deep bond without the mandatory romantic attachment. And if we get hit over the head a bit with the messages from time to time, it's not a bad thing at all in a book aimed at the younger crowd, who will, hopefully, take something away from it that they may need. There's a lot of self-growth on the characters' part, mostly reflected by Sadie's inner monologue/dialogue, but it's only fit for this kind of story that there would be more telling than showing, and I barely noticed it until I sat down to write this review. Not all the conversations are relevant or well-placed - for instance, the dig at Supernatural as "weird CW shows that should have ended, like, ten years before they did" sounds more like a criticism on the author's part than something the characters would say. But on the whole, WSAU is a remarkable combination of fun, intriguing, fast-paced horror and strong coming-of-age themes that will have many teens (and even adults) feel seen - a Halloween (but really, all-year-appropriate) read with teeth and a heart.

For more Supernatural books click here.

For more Contemporary books click here.