That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
**2.5-stars**
That Night in the Library is an Adult Literary Suspense novel. This is a recent release and I went into it, I’ll admit, with a bit of trepidation. The early reviews aren’t the highest, but in a way that piqued my interest even more.
I frequently find myself in the minority opinion, so I went in open-minded, ready to give it a nice go. I so wanted to at least give this a 3-star rating, but sadly, I just can’t.
The concept was okay, like the very basic concept, but the execution completely missed the mark.
This story basically follows a group of seven people, who make a plan to sneak into the basement of the rare books library at their University, and spend the night, performing some sort of obscure ritual while they are there.
It says in the synopsis that it is the night before graduation, but honestly, I don’t remember those kinds of details from this. It was quite difficult to parse anything out really.
I did understand they were going to perform a ritual, that I believe was said to free the participants of any fear, or something like that. IDK, really.
It’s an odd mix of characters. They weren’t all friends, or anything, they just needed seven people, so ended up inviting a girl who worked at the library, who really didn’t know any of them, someone’s drug dealer, etc.
That one part I did understand clearly about the ritual was they fasted before, and then dropped acid. Most of the rest of it was delivered to us through a drug-addled haze, so not particularly the most coherent way to convey a plot.
Once the ritual starts, they’re literally trapped in this basement space; locked in. They’re getting into it, doing their chanting, and dancing around and what not, when suddenly, one of the participants drops dead.
From there, as you would expect, they start to freak out, because that person is dead! How did they die? Were they killed? Is one of them responsible.
Since they’re tripping, suspicions run high. Things get wild. More bodies fall. Is anyone going to survive?
So, yeah, that’s a basic breakdown of this story. I feel like it’s for a very niche market. You have to be a specific type of Reader for this to work for you.
There is sort of a vibe of this being a book about books, but not to the level of like a Strange the Dreamer, or The Dark Half. It’s too hazy a theme for me to actually recommend it for that trope alone.
Without any malice, I would say this feels like one of those cases where the author is more enamored with their own writing, the words and phrases they use, than with any actual plot. It comes across a bit arrogant, in a way. I would equate it to The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring.
With this being said, this is 100% my personal opinion. Just because it didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. I would urge anyone who thinks it sounds interesting, to give it a go.
There’s a book for every Reader, and a Reader for every book. I know there is an audience for this one. Unfortunately, I’m just not a part of that audience.
Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press and RB Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I gave it a shot and even though it didn’t work out for me, I appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinion.