That Night in the Library
A Novel
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
“Once you enter the library, there’s no turning back." —Elle Cosimano, New York Times bestselling author of the Finlay Donovan mysteries
From critically acclaimed librarian and author Eva Jurczyk comes That Night in the Library, a chilling literary mystery that transports readers to a world where secrets live in the dark, books breathe fears to life, and the only way out is to wait until morning.
On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university’s rare books library. They’re not allowed in the library after closing time, but it’s the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform—one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they’ll scatter in different directions to start their real lives?
But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out—and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer.
One night locked in the library. What could go wrong?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seven college students gather in a library basement to perform a Greek ritual that turns deadly, in librarian Jurczyk's underheated sophomore effort (after The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections). At an unnamed Vermont university, student library assistant Davey Kebede invites six friends to join him beneath the William E. Woodend Rare Books Library to perform an overnight ceremony modeled on the Eleunisian Mysteries that's designed to rid them of their fears of death. Not long after Davey and his cohorts are locked in for the night, the power surges, and one member of the group—PhD candidate Kip—disappears. When Davey and company find Kip, he's covered in blood, and he draws his final breaths in front of them. Shocked, the survivors start pointing fingers, and their worst suspicions are confirmed when a second person is killed in an attempted dash for safety. With the library locked from the outside until morning, who will survive the night? Jurczyk conjures a suitably creepy atmosphere, but her characters are thinly drawn, and the twist ending is more deflating than clever. This misses the mark.
