I enjoyed Eva Jurczyk's previous novel and was eager to read this next one, but I was not engaged by the plot at all.. Two early references to old books with green covers made the plot point very clear to librarians, for one. Second, the storytelling was slow with a Lord of the Flies vibe, The characters did not interest me.

A Very modern 'Whodunit': 'That Night in the Library' by Eva Jurczyk

I’m always a bit of a sucker when I see a book about libraries or even with the word library in the title. And I enjoy a good ‘whodunit’ and crime novels.

So of course I had to read this one, by Polish born Canadian writer Eva Jurczyk.

Set in the rare book library of a university, the cast of characters are seven students who gather for a night of (unspecified) ritual and drugs on the night before their graduation. Some of the seven know each other, having studied or worked together, others are almost strangers.

Why these seven?

They’ve been hand-picked by the event organiser, Davey, keen to try out a ritual from the ancient Greeks said to banish the fear of death. As these youngsters are on the cusp of their real adult lives and unknown futures, it seems as good a time as any to try something new.

But within minutes of dropping the acid tabs, one of them drops dead – seemingly poisoned. And then the lights go out, plunging their basement venue into darkness.

Fear and suspicion immediately overtake the six survivors, each of whom has their own insecurities and problems or preoccupations.

As with any good whodunit, the death toll climbs, and so does their paranoia.

That Night in the Library is a little like a cross between Lord of the Flies and Cluedo, with a very modern take on the ‘locked room’ mystery trope. It’s both fun and compelling as the possible murderer and their motive keeps shifting.

I didn’t completely buy the resolution, however I was very happy to suspend my judgement in order to enjoy a fast-paced mystery with believable young characters. And as always, I did love the library setting.

That Night in the Library is published by Sourcebooks/ Poisoned Pen Press in June 2024.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

A super chilling locked door mystery set in a college library, full of twists and turns, betrayal and friendship, I really enjoyed this.

#NetGalleyARC Another book that I had high hopes for but it just didn’t meet my expectations. I appreciated that the chapters were short, it helped me get through the book, but it just never held my attention. The characters were boring and the plot lacking.

Seven pretentious and insufferable college students get together after hours for a night of Greek rituals and drugs. The environment was practically begging for a murder. The remaining six are locked in the library's basement, high out of their minds, and left without a shred of judgment. What starts as unease and distrust quickly derails into a bloodbath.

This is a mixed bag. The premise has promise, but the execution was half-baked. The pacing for a novel under three hundred pages is uneven, filled with pages of boring information only to be followed by an intense action scene. The action there was entertaining, but it took forever to get there. The ritual part wasn't explained well and never really occurred. All of our characters are self-absorbed, but they are college kids in the USA, so what else to expect? The ending was a fun twist, but I can foresee people hating it and thinking it was cheap.

Overall, this was not a very memorable read and had pacing issues. It's still a relatively short read, so if you like unhinged college students give it a go.

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, for the advance copy! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I was super excited to read this library version of a locked room mystery. I though the premise of completing an ancient sacred ritual in an old, empty, library was great. However, it began to veer off course for me midway through and the abrupt ending left too many unanswered questions. But, it was a quick read and I would probably give the author another try based on the fact that I thought this was such a unique idea for a book.. 3.5 stars

This was a tough book to read. After expecting to read a nice cozy mystery with one or two bodies, I ended up with a novel with a body count rivaling Nightmare on Elm Street. It was also tough to read as it challenged the reader to examine how they would handle fear and suspicion.

A group of college librarians, students and their friends agree to spend a night in a rare book library in order to reenact a story from Greek mythology. Frankly, with graduation day lurking, it seemed like a good time for a party. But when one of the participants dies in a gruesome manner, the participants begin to fear each other. They are locked in to the library for the night. Who will be next? Who is the killer? Will they survive the night?

It took a while to warm up to this book. It began with some mundane information on the participants and their circumstances. I felt it was a bit more detail than was needed to establish the characters. But once the killing began, the novel moved at a breakneck pace. The ending was a nice surprise.

This was a really well done novel, it had a great overall mystery element to it and that it worked what I was hoping for. The characters worked in this setting and thought they felt like real people dealing with this situation. The mystery was wonderfully written and enjoyed that it involved rare books library. It uses the elements perfectly and enjoyed the mystery overall. Eva Jurczyk writes a great story and I enjoyed what I read.

I enjoyed the book for sure! I did find it slightly confusing keeping up with all the characters, however once they were introduced I did begin to enjoy it! I didn't enjoy some of the character banter but I did enjoy the thought of being in the library basement it gave off creepy dark vibes .I think the story was good but it was so many people and so much going on that keeping up was hard i kept getting distracted.

As a book nerd who loves thrillers, a locked-door mystery set in a LIBRARY is basically my dream story. However, I really struggled with the writing style of this one. I understand what the author was trying to do, and it isn't poorly done by any means, but it just didn't amp up the suspense for me. I think there are a lot of mystery fans who will like this more than I did.

This book was so full of promise - seven loosely tied, about to graduate college kids in a rare book library? someone dies?! SIGN. ME. UP. Giving so many neverworld wake/we were villians vibes and this is so my kind of book.

Halfway through I had a thought that I should check if this was a horror novel (its not). I thought maybe it was just a quick little thriller? IDK. it went weird real fast and there are some plot holes I really would have liked an extra 50 pages for. Davey's eye, for one! There was so much unfinished - I loved the clever ending but the foreshadowing was so not there and I just felt like it could have been teased out a bit more.

A great premise, but this read like a second to final draft to me. HOWEVER, if this is YA targeted, that makes sense. Solid, not great.

“That Nigh in The Library” completely convinced me. Follow an authentic and diverse group of seven young people as they struggle with their morals and their lives during a night in the library. What is real? What is being kept secret? Who is the murderer? An absolute recommendation for fans of “The Secret History” or “The Atlas Six”.

I feel somewhat torn on this book — it was a super interesting premise with sharp writing and a really clever twist at the end (though I imagine some readers won’t like it, but I definitely did). But I struggled to really sink into the characters — with a locked-room mystery with multiple POVs I feel like it’s important for one character to feel like a readers “in” to the story and I never got that. So as much as I enjoyed the book generally at some points it seemed to drag as I wasn’t quite connecting.
But I will say, I never expected an Ariana Grande meme to be so prevalent in a thriller.

'That Night In The Library' follows a set of students who've decided to meet up secretly in order to undertake an ambiguous ritual, in the basement of the rare books library where most of them work. After one of the students dies, the night devolves into kind of locked room who-dun-it mystery with strong slasher energy. It's an atmospheric and enticing premise, and I knew it'd suit me straight away.

I found a few elements of the plot a bit predictable, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of it! The evolution of the mayhem is well paced - would reccommend for fans of The Secret History and other dark academia novels, but also for fans of Scream-type media and Bodies Bodies Bodies. It's fun seeing elements of social media/tik tok filter used as plot devices, and the characters were pretty engaging. I would say that the resolution didn't tie up all the threads that were dropped - ie. the ritual - but that's a minor gripe.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC!! Definitely pick it up when it's published in June, if you're a fan of an atmospheric, bloody, mystery.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Being a librarian and a fan of mysteries, this one jumped out at me (that cover is a work of art). Students locked together overnight to perform a ritual... and then the deaths begin.

The book was decent enough but I found it at least 100 pages too long. There was a decent twist at the end but I'd lost interest at this point.

That Night in the Library is a locked room mystery featuring seven students at a small Vermont college. Davey, the instigator, gathers several other undergraduate and graduate students, all hurtling toward tomorrow's graduation ceremony, to sneak into the rare book section in the basement of the library for an ostensibly classical Greek ritual after which none of them will fear death. It goes pretty much how you would expect with that kind of setup.

The book opens with a variety of points of view, so you can get to know the characters. They're a pretty standard cross section of spoiled rich kids, awkward nerds, overachievers, and townies. It's hard to sympathize with any of them, since they mostly come off as selfish, self-absorbed, and unpleasant, but a little easier if you focus on how young they are. Unfortunately, not all of them are going to have time to mature.

There's so much set-up that at first I was pretty sure we'd get just a single murder (despite the blurb's "body count rises" hint), but once things get started, it's a gory time until morning, when the library will open and someone will surely come to intervene. It's established pretty early on that drugs will figure into the night's events, and the outcome of this terrible choice is both inevitable and only believable if most participants are having very bad trips.

If I had been more interested in or cared more about any of these characters, especially Faye who gets most of the POV time on page, this would have been a lot more compelling. The seven students have motivations, but they mostly seem skin deep, even when we're in their heads. There was only one that I was invested in, and their fate made me so crabby that for the rest of the book I figured it was fine with me if they all died eventually. Especially given the way they damaged some of the rare books. These students seemed pretty replaceable, but those books weren't!

A clever story, deftly told, but so cold that I didn't think the author cared about anyone dying either. I think there is probably a big audience for this book, but it wasn't for me.

That Night in the Library is The Maidens meets The Secret History in a locked room whodunnit where nothing is as it seems.

At a rare books library, a library technician with a penchant for ancient Greece decides to perform a ritual inspired by the Demeter Persephone story involving 6 students/employees of the library over night. Locked in the basement stacks, with no lights, cameras, security, or Wi-Fi, what could go wrong? When one of the attendees mysteriously dies, panic and mayhem ensues as there may be a killer hiding amongst them. With no one to turn to but themselves, everyone is a suspect, with their faults, secrets, and ruthless academic ambitions on full display.

I really enjoyed this thriller. It's got both a dark academia vibe with its Greek rituals and shadowy library setting and a classic whodunnit plot whereby we do not know who the killer is, and which narrator to trust? I thought the setting of a rare books library was ingenious and provided the perfect backdrop for a murder mystery. The tension and fear along with the trippy atmosphere induced by the ritual made this book hard to put down. I thought the twist and revelation at the end to be shockingly good and offers up some interesting questions as to how much the ritual may have played a part in the final outcome.

If you are a fan of the tv shows The Traitors or One of Us Is Lying, then 'That Night in the Library' should be your next read.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s Dave’s Kebede’s last shift at the library (maybe.) The William E. Woodend Rare Books Library, to be precise. He, and two others, have interviewed for a full time position there, but he hasn’t heard whether he’s gotten it yet (he’s sure he did) but tonight is his last shift as a graduate student before graduation and he’s planning to make it a memorable one. He’s invited a select group of other students (and their friends) to participate in an all-night ritual within the library that is based in the Eleusinian Mysteries with “chanting, re-enactments, spirituality and a lot of drugs.” And “obviously no one dies in the ritual” which you know means someone dies in the ritual. Hilarity ensues.

So, maybe this wants to be THE SECRET HISTORY lite, only bloodier, but the ritual doesn’t really get started. The participants are locked in with no phones (and the obvious answer only occurs to them after far too much time has passed, and contains a plot holes a mile wide). An interesting segueway though. So I kind of liked it. Oh, and very diverse characters, but not used all that well.

A good mystery that really kept me going. This is a great weekend read to escape in. Thanks for the opportunity to read as I thoroughly enjoyed.

Based on its premise, I thought this book would be very exciting and thrilling to read, but it was not. The idea of a locked basement in a rare books library, a group of 7 very different college students, and a night of adventure before they all depart the next day sounds like a winner. When one of the students ends up dead early in the locked-in evening, everyone seems to lose all sense of reason. Admittedly, drugs are involved, but not for everyone. I found the writing hard to follow and the characters difficult to tell apart. I did like the very clever ending concerning the early death. Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC.