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A review by abookandchai
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
4.0
check out the full review along with an aesthetic on my blog
The more they unraveled Snakebite, the less sense it made.
I don’t usually delve into the paranormal genre but this one caught my attention because of the beautiful lesbians on the cover cover and spooky concept. Suffice to say I enjoyed The Dead and the Dark way more than I thought I would! This is a well crafted supernatural thriller about a remote town where teens start going missing and two girls, Ashley and Logan team up to find the reason behind it.
Also… the author’s editor described this as ‘Riverdale but better’!! I definitely found it to have similar vibes as The Haunting of Bly Manor, a horror show I really love and if you want something like that then The Dead and the Dark is definitely for you!
I am a total sucker for dark, mysterious atmospheric settings and The Dead and the Dark provided just that. Courtney Gould’s writing easily sucks you into the story and the spooky small town of Snakebite. I felt myself wanting more and finding the answers alongside Logan and Ashley and I also felt the strangeness of it all. The isolated setting of Snakebite worked so perfectly to set the mood for the book! I loved the concept behind ‘Dark’ and how it can become a manifestation of a human’s grief and desperation.
The Dead and the Dark has some very intriguing character relationships. At the heart of this book, the story is about family love. Logan’s dads formed great side characters and I really enjoyed getting to know of their backstory through Logan and Ashley. Their interactions were a perfect mix of snark and spookiness and kept me on my toes. Logan’s strained relationship with her dad, Brandon is really heartbreaking once the past is revealed. Though Logan and Ashley’s relationship felt sudden at some point, it was good to read about them coming to terms with their feelings and growing close to each other by the mystery surrounding them.
Courtney Gould entangles emotions with murder mystery throughout the book. The theme of belonging and loneliness is profound as it questions what really makes one feel like at home? Logan and Ashley’s POVs give us insights into their sorrow and struggles—Ashley with the disappearance of her close friend and Logan with her years of loneliness and rocky relationship with her dads. Their grief works in tandem with the plot to make it more investing.
More than the actual scary elements, the deep rooted and internalised homophobia of Snakebite was more scary. Its what drove Logan’s parents Brandon and Alejo out of the town. Amidst it all, it was a delight to see Logan fully out and proud about her being a lesbian as well as Ashley coming to terms with and being about it.
Some minor complaints with the book would be that it took time for me to get invested in it as the pace starts off slow at first and I did find myself wishing for there to be more to the ‘Dark’ and how it came to be. This didn’t majorly affect my enjoyment of the book though.
Overall, The Dead and the Dark is a wonderful debut novel, equally dark and atmospheric and also emotionally captivating. If you’re looking for a spooky small town murder/ghost mystery with lesbian ghost hunters, be sure to pick this up!
thank you wednesday books and netgalley for the arc!
The more they unraveled Snakebite, the less sense it made.
I don’t usually delve into the paranormal genre but this one caught my attention because of the beautiful lesbians on the cover cover and spooky concept. Suffice to say I enjoyed The Dead and the Dark way more than I thought I would! This is a well crafted supernatural thriller about a remote town where teens start going missing and two girls, Ashley and Logan team up to find the reason behind it.
Also… the author’s editor described this as ‘Riverdale but better’!! I definitely found it to have similar vibes as The Haunting of Bly Manor, a horror show I really love and if you want something like that then The Dead and the Dark is definitely for you!
I am a total sucker for dark, mysterious atmospheric settings and The Dead and the Dark provided just that. Courtney Gould’s writing easily sucks you into the story and the spooky small town of Snakebite. I felt myself wanting more and finding the answers alongside Logan and Ashley and I also felt the strangeness of it all. The isolated setting of Snakebite worked so perfectly to set the mood for the book! I loved the concept behind ‘Dark’ and how it can become a manifestation of a human’s grief and desperation.
The Dead and the Dark has some very intriguing character relationships. At the heart of this book, the story is about family love. Logan’s dads formed great side characters and I really enjoyed getting to know of their backstory through Logan and Ashley. Their interactions were a perfect mix of snark and spookiness and kept me on my toes. Logan’s strained relationship with her dad, Brandon is really heartbreaking once the past is revealed. Though Logan and Ashley’s relationship felt sudden at some point, it was good to read about them coming to terms with their feelings and growing close to each other by the mystery surrounding them.
Courtney Gould entangles emotions with murder mystery throughout the book. The theme of belonging and loneliness is profound as it questions what really makes one feel like at home? Logan and Ashley’s POVs give us insights into their sorrow and struggles—Ashley with the disappearance of her close friend and Logan with her years of loneliness and rocky relationship with her dads. Their grief works in tandem with the plot to make it more investing.
More than the actual scary elements, the deep rooted and internalised homophobia of Snakebite was more scary. Its what drove Logan’s parents Brandon and Alejo out of the town. Amidst it all, it was a delight to see Logan fully out and proud about her being a lesbian as well as Ashley coming to terms with and being about it.
Some minor complaints with the book would be that it took time for me to get invested in it as the pace starts off slow at first and I did find myself wishing for there to be more to the ‘Dark’ and how it came to be. This didn’t majorly affect my enjoyment of the book though.
Overall, The Dead and the Dark is a wonderful debut novel, equally dark and atmospheric and also emotionally captivating. If you’re looking for a spooky small town murder/ghost mystery with lesbian ghost hunters, be sure to pick this up!
thank you wednesday books and netgalley for the arc!