After Dark with Roxie Clark

by Brooke Lauren Davis

Overview

A twisty YA thriller about a girl who revels in leading ghost tours, but discovers that even she can be spooked when a chilling murder hits closer to home.

An Indie Next pick!

Roxie Clark has seen more dead bodies than your average seventeen-year-old. As a member of the supposedly-cursed Clark family, most of her ancestors have met tragic ends, including her own mother. Instead of fearing the curse, however, Roxie has combined her flair for performance and her gruesome family history into a successful ghost tour. But her tour never covers the most recent body she's seen-her sister Skylar's boyfriend, Colin Riley, found murdered in a cornfield.

A year after the murder, Roxie's desperate to help Skylar find closure and start to heal. Instead, Skylar becomes fixated on finding the killer. As the sisters dig into what really happened, they discover that more than one person has been lying about that night. And the closer they get to the truth, the more Roxie starts to wonder if some scary stories might be better left untold. Brooke Lauren Davis offers another thought-provoking and eerily satisfying tale, perfect for fans of Kara Thomas and Cruel Summer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547606146
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	544,791
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Brooke Lauren Davis grew up in rural Southern Ohio. Now she lives in North Carolina, where she spends her time dreaming up more stories about small towns with big secrets. She is also the author of The Hollow Inside.

brookelaurendavis.com

Instagram: @brookelaurendavis

Editorial Reviews

08/22/2022

Rather than fearing her family’s purported curse, 18-year-old Roxie Clark embraces it with theatrical flair until tragedy forces her to reevaluate her perspective in this eerie thriller from Davis (The Hollow Inside). Whistler High School student Roxie knows that many of her relatives have died under mysterious circumstances, which they blame on a generational curse. Even so, Roxie is a fan of all things morbid, and regales anyone who will listen with woeful tales of her family history. She’s even developed a ghost tour about it, busing patrons around town to the locations of the historical and more recent deaths. When the repeatedly stabbed and partially burned corpse of Roxie’s sister Skylar’s boyfriend is found in a cornfield, however, Roxie will do anything to help her sibling move on. A year after his death, new evidence prompts Skylar to enlist Roxie to find his killer, but when she insists that the murderer is Roxie’s best friend, Roxie is torn between wanting to prove his innocence and securing closure for her sister. The narrative’s suspenseful ambiance and Roxie’s distinct, loyal-to-a-fault voice make for a riveting meditation on generational trauma and fierce female relationships. Characters cue as white. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The ghost tour is so well-painted that readers would eagerly hand over the money to be included on the next trip…Readers will enjoy this solid mystery with a satisfying resolution.” —School Library Journal

“A story about transgenerational haunting, of the legacies, responsibilities, and sentiments passed on from old to young along a family line. . . . This book is a wonderful change of pace for thriller lovers—a slower burn, but a rewarding one.” —Booklist

“The narrative's suspenseful ambiance and Roxie's distinct, loyal-to-a-fault voice make for a riveting meditation on generational trauma and fierce female relationships.” —Publishers Weekly

“The central mystery is unpredictable, carefully building tension to the end. . . . Gripping.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The Hollow Inside is a haunting debut, as thrilling as it is lyrical. Steeped in small town secrets and layered mysteries that unfold with perfect pacing, Brooke Lauren Davis delivers a powerful story about the lengths we're willing to go to for family, and the price we pay when the ones we love reveal their true natures. I loved every bit of this twisty, poetic book.” —New York Times bestselling author David Arnold on THE HOLLOW INSIDE

“A propulsive, gritty thriller from an exciting new voice in YA fiction. I can't wait to see what Brooke Lauren Davis does next.” —Kara Thomas, author of The Cheerleaders, on THE HOLLOW INSIDE

“The author evocatively captures the feel of small-town life, and Phoenix, whose longing for a family is palpable, inspires sympathy, as does Nina, whose own story is interspersed throughout. . . . A page-turning debut.” —Kirkus Reviews on THE HOLLOW INSIDE

“Debut author Davis creates a complex, suspenseful story about small-town secrets, vengeance, and compassion.” —Publishers Weekly on THE HOLLOW INSIDE

“An engaging debut that propels readers through a dark tangle of lies and secrets.” —Booklist on THE HOLLOW INSIDE

From the Publisher

01/01/2023

Gr 8 Up—The women in the Clark family are cursed; except for her sister and her grandma, all of Roxie Clark's female relatives have met an untimely demise. Roxie has made the macabre her hobby, passion, and part-time job. She has embraced her family's grim history and created an elaborate ghost tour that earns her a bit of extra cash during the Halloween season. She's even added a tour bus. Meanwhile, there is a fresh murder in town. Her sister's ex-boyfriend has turned up dead, and suspicions abound as to who may have done the dastardly deed. As all eyes look toward the recently released local felon, a second body is discovered. A tame romantic subplot helps the story clip along as Roxie finds herself dividing loyalties between her sister and her best friend—turned-crush. A presumably all-white cast is featured. The ghost tour is so well-painted that readers would eagerly hand over the money to be included on the next trip. VERDICT Suspending disbelief about a teen's ability to conduct a thorough murder investigation, readers will enjoy this solid mystery with a satisfying resolution; the ghost stories are great.—Leah Krippner

School Library Journal

2022-07-13
Two sisters take a murder investigation into their own hands in this story set in small-town Indiana.

Roxie crafts wildly creative ghost-story tours for the public about Whistler’s local lore, many of them based on her own family’s history. Her embrace of all things macabre is a huge part of her style and identity. However, the grisly killing of her sister Skylar’s boyfriend, Colin, a year earlier hit too close to home for her and has destroyed Skylar, leaving the once-driven student ready to forfeit her spot at Yale and completely retreat from life. When new information spurs Skylar to look into his still unsolved case, Roxie throws her weight behind the effort, hoping it will help her sister turn a corner. Tristan, Roxie’s best friend, is also Colin’s half brother, and their long-standing potential to become more than friends, in addition to the secrets he’s keeping, complicates things. There is a lot packed into the plot, which can feel unwieldy at times, but the central mystery is unpredictable, carefully building tension to the end. Themes of family trauma are nicely balanced by the sisters’ adoring, tough Grandma Gertie. There is also some dissection of Roxie’s experience of feeling like a misfit and the pain it has caused her. All characters seem to be White.

A gripping, if occasionally overstuffed, thriller. (Thriller. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews