The Darkhouse by Barbara Radecki

I always pictured living on an island to be a sun-filled paradise and a peaceful existence but for teenager Gemma, it is a solitary existence. Never having left the Canadian island she lives on, Gemma has been sheltered and isolated her whole life and is naïve to the real world. Her sheltered existence is beautifully explained and some parts seem wonderful and some just lonely. She spends her days with older residents of the island while her father, Jonah, either works on his experiments at home or is at his job as the ferry captain.

The only family she has around is a cold-hearted father who does not speak that much to her and keeps her from ever venturing outside of the island. All that she has ever heard or known about her mother is that she left Jonah and Gemma and that she is crazy and she cannot find out any details of where her mother is. Her father only explains that she was once beautiful but he does not like recalling Gemma’s mother because it makes him sick and angry. Where is her mother? Why does she stay away? What is her father hiding?

One day, a mysterious stranger, Marlie, arrives on the island and gets acquainted with Gemma. Little does she know, this strange woman is about to completely change everything in Gemma’s life. Marlie’s arrival brings events that ultimately reveal Jonah’s secrets and his past. When Gemma finds out the truth, she decides to venture out on her own and figure out all the details of her mother and what she wants in her life, which leads to an exciting and unexpected ending. This story keeps you in suspense and eager for a resolution.

For fans of psychological thrillers, drama, and mystery, check out The Darkhouse from the teen room!

-Lauren

IN A DARK, DARK WOOD by Ruth Ware

     "Why now?" That is the question Leonora Shaw (known to some as Lee, to others as Nora) keeps asking herself. Nora has received a text from someone called Flo and she doesn't know anyone named Flo.  Was this text sent to her by mistake?
       Subject of the text: CLARE'S HEN!!
       The text says, Flo, is Clare's best friend from the university and her maid of honor. The Hen is going to be a weekend away near her old college stomping ground in Northumberland. Nora and Clare Cavendish had been best friends when they were in college at the University at Durham.  Clare and Nora have not be in contact with each other for 10 years and had not left college on the best of terms.  Clare and Nora have some unsolved issues to overcome.
      The Hen weekend ends up being in a dark cold woods in a eerie glass house.  As the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, and old memories shatters Nora's reserve, and Nora decides to leave. But before Nora and Nina, (who is also a close friend from Nora's college days), can leave a haunting realization creeps in, the party is not alone in the woods.
       Forty-eight hours later, Nora wakes up in a hospital bed, with the knowledge that someone is dead.  She doesn't remember what happened and is wondering, "what have I done?" Nora tries to piece together the events of the last weekend, while the police are waiting outside her hospital door to question her about the chain of events.
      What should have been a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware's suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted debut psychological thriller. IN A DARK, DARK WOOD is a good, quick read and just in time for Halloween.