I wanted to love this one. The title and plot had me chomping at the bit to read, but I just couldn't connect with the characters or maintain interest.

I don't want to be disrespectful, but honestly the chapters were too long for me and it was too slow of a burn. I feel like it was missing that initial "grab" to pull me into the story.

DNF for me

With promises of completing the Eleusinian Mysteries ritual on the eve of their college graduation seven people lock themselves in the basement of a rare books library in sleepy Vermont hoping to end their night enlightened and unafraid. Then someone dies.

The premise of this book had promise but it fell flat almost immediately. There are seven characters and in the beginning there are seven points of view. This quickly becomes overwhelming. There's references to rare books and religions and languages that make sense in the setting and the mostly diverse cast of characters but it's a slow, slow descent into the basement of the library and takes a quarter of the book before anything starts to happen. Which, of course, leaves you with a quarter of the book to realize that most of these people are insufferable. Some of them have a few redeeming qualities but it's few and far between (I will give Ro a pass, but unfortunately he is the least developed of the crew).

The ritual is never really explained. It's peppered in and out, especially at the beginning, but there's no real explanation of what they were meant to be doing or what they thought was going to happen. Some of them thought it was a party, others didn't. They almost all did the drugs anyway. I struggled to connect why most of them would even agree to be there. And the night before graduation at that? There's no way.

When the action does happen it's a brief reprieve from being reminded over and over again how smart these people are supposed to be and what stupid decisions they make. By the time the third body hit the floor and everyone is still debating who could have killed the first I clocked what was happening. This is the Bodies, Bodies, Bodies of books.

There's too much that didn't work here. The unlikeable characters, believing any of them would ever agree to this ritual when and where it was to be done, some of the chapter formatting was unnecessary too. It was kind of difficult to finish for all of these reasons.

That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk is a locked room mystery where no one can be trusted, and even the narrators are difficult to believe.

I struggled a little bit with this book from the beginning because I found it had a very slow start. Yes, there was the setting up of details and the scenario, but it was almost too much for me, too drawn out and too many character all at once to the point that I lost interest. I just wanted to get to the point of the story, the actual part that made it a thriller and it just took too long setting up the event that causes the entire plot that it felt excessive. I just wasn’t interested enough in the characters to deal with so much set up.

Which brings me to the characters. I was invested in no one and quite frankly found them relatively unlikeable. I felt no stakes in their survival or winning so to speak. It also at times felt like there were too many narrators for no real payoff. In reality with the shorter length of the book, all it did for me was make it more difficult to be drawn in to any one character and to have someone to root for. Again, the fact that I didn’t find anyone particularly likeable made it far harder to to develop any investment in anyone and to really have that anxiety about who might be at risk next as they start to drop like flies.

In the end this one wasn’t for me. I was at least invested enough to continue through to the end to get answers, but the story never really picked up for me and frankly just kind of dragged from start to finish. However, I think it’s the kind of book that thriller lovers could potentially find to be their cup of tea as it has plenty of terror and uncertainty for the characters, as well as the mystery of whodunnit. The ending I think didn’t quite have the payoff I needed in this kind of book, though it both lived up to being something I expected, while still giving me a bit of a “ohhh that all came together after all”. So I will say the book did very well connecting events from start to finish in a meaningful way.

All together, it wasn’t quite the book for me, but that isn’t to say other thriller lovers will have the same experience. Potentially a book for those who enjoy locked room mysteries filled with murder.

I loved the idea of this locked door thriller, especially taking place in a library. But the overall plot was slightly chaotic. There's lots of death, paranoia and multiple POVs so it became wild. I can see the appeal for some people for this type of book, unfortunately it was not for me.

Wow! This book was a rollercoaster for me. At only 288 pages I should have flown through it in no time at all, but I struggled.

I wanted to DNF at 20% and pushed through and then again at 62% I wanted to DNF. I pushed through because I was hopeful the end would turn it around for me and I want to give authors, especially newer authors more of a chance.

I understood that idea behind a lot of what happened throughout this book and loved the setting but the entire book seemed to be pushing this idea of how being on drugs is on the minds and how those around them could be affected. While I understood what the plan was the chapters felt too busy and provided a lot that might not have been necessary to the plot.

I think I struggled less to push through just because for the last four years I had been reading 18th century novels and this felt very reminiscent to how a murder scene or thought would be described over 5+ pages when it wasn’t necessary.

I felt the potential and thought the ending was smart so I rounded up to a 3 star rating. I look forward to seeing where this author ends up and how their storytelling develops over time!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Press Pen for the e-ARC for an honest review!

A locked room mystery in a library is a wonderful premise and the ending is seriously brilliant. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking. I can imagine how hard it must be to write a book, so it pains me when I have to give a bad review. Maybe I’m not the right reader for this, but I found the characters unlikeable and I couldn’t root for anyone and just wasn’t invested in the outcome. The plot was painfully slow, focusing more on internal dialogue and way too many unnecessary details, rather than dealing with whodunit, how or why. There is a lot of repetition, the story about Demeter and Persephone is told twice in almost the same way, and the dialogues kept going back and forth without moving the story forward. I had high hopes for this and maybe other, younger, readers will enjoy it more.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Poisoned Pen Press.

Included link for review posted on Goodreads. Very disappointing and so very different from what was expected.. opinions sent.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. The characters were all interesting and I liked how they were all the narrator at some point. The author did a great job with the setting as well - I truly felt immersed in the library and the college itself. I definitely wasn't expecting the ending!

It pains me to say that this was a DNF for me. I gave it 20% and just couldn’t do it anymore. The description was fabulous and got me very excited to read this book but it almost immediately fell flat for me. I was not a fan of the characters or the writing.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪
𝗘𝘃𝗮 𝗝𝘂𝗿𝗰𝘇𝘆𝗸
Murder Thriller
288 pages
Pub Date: June 11, 2024

Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs
A small group of people stay the night in the bowels of the library where the rare books are kept. Their communication with the outside is cut off.

Then the deaths begin, and they are stuck there until morning. Will anyone be alive when daylight comes?

Mʸ Tᴴᴼᵁᴳᴴᵀs
This book had a solid plot idea, but it fell short for me. It seemed like a lot of reading for one night in a library.

The characters were unlikable and odd. They made the worst choices possible as the night went on. There isn’t an ounce of common sense between them. I sure as heck wouldn't want to be friends with any of them.

I tend to grab books when “library” is in the title. This one sounded good, but it wasn’t what I expected. I gave it a three-star rating because I liked the idea; it just wasn’t executed as I thought it would be.

💕Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

Seven students are locked in a library to participate in a ritual, but things turn deadly when people start to die.

I just could not get into the way this was written. The chapters felt very short and choppy. I also did not like any of the characters, which made it hard to be invested.

The description and the premise of the book is what attracted me most to it but unfortunately i had to stop reading this around 100 pages i
The writing was not for me and i couldn’t enjoy one single character
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC digital copy. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.

What mind-bending thriller did I just read??? I can’t necessarily say it was enjoyable, but it is certainly still thought-provoking after the last page!

I am generally a character reader and yet the action seemed to drive this book. But, I realized it actually was all about the characters in the end. Totally messing with my mind because I didn’t connect with any of them. Again, I can’t say this was an enjoyable read but could it be the psychological aspect is playing with me?

The biggest negative for me is that I chose this title based on the library setting, and it really could have taken place in any old building with a large, dark basement.

A twisty locked door mystery set in a library? Sign me up! I had very high hopes for “That Night in the Library.” The entire premise immediately intrigued me, and as the story unraveled, I was hooked.

I do not like to give lower than three stars on a book. So this pains me to give it only two stars.

I had high hopes for this book. The title and the premise are fantastic.

Unfortunately. that is where the positive stops.

I DNF this book but I attempted many times to get into the story. There were too many POVs and the characters were flat and uninteresting. The book could not capture my interest.

I am very sorry to only give it two stars.

Oh boy... I was already afraid this was going to happen to be honest. On paper, this story should have been a perfect fit for me. I love a good locked room mystery, and adding a bookish element only makes me want to read a story even more. For the locked room element to be actually set INSIDE a library? That was simply too irresistible, and I've been looking forward to read That Night In The Library ever since it appeared on my kindle. This excitement changed when I was putting together my May TBR and saw just how low the rating on Goodreads was... I decided to go in with low expectations and hope for the best, but let's just say that the low rating is there for a reason.

Before I continue, I have to give credit where credit is due, and say that the premise of this story is without doubt fantastic. I loved the idea of the students going rogue and performing a ritual in the library basement, and add a dose of locked room and murder and this story had SO much potential. Where did it get wrong for me then? One of the most pressing issues has a lot to do with the main characters, who are both absolutely dreadful and strangely bland and stereotype at the same time. I honestly couldn't care less if they just all slaughtered each other in the basement, and not having anyone to root for does really put a damper on things. Seriously, it was like they were in a contest for most hated character! And the dialogue and the way they acted wasn't natural or credible at all either.

That Night In The Library uses a multiple POV structure, and with seven students to keep track of and none all too memorable this is a lot. Add the fact that the plot switches POV almost every other page (especially in the beginning when there are more of them), and I started to get highly frustrated fast. I wasn't a fan of the writing style and tone either; the dialogue felt forced and just not natural at all, and the word choice seemed pretentious in parts. There were also parts that seemed to have been added just for the sake of it (for example the part about the donor), and this only slowed down the pace.

I honestly don't know why I even decided to keep reading until the end other than that I was curious just how much of a trainwreck it was going to be. I guess going in with lower expectations also did help... Although I confess that I thought about DNFing more than once. I was hoping the ending would make up for it, but the solution kind of came out of left field (and not in a good and credible way). Honestly, I kind of wish they would have just all slaughtered each other in the beginning instead; that way I wouldn't have had to deal with all the mess. As you might have guessed already, I can't exactly recommend That Night In The Library... And as you can already deduct from the low rating on Goodreads, I'm not the only one who struggled with this book either.

I had such high hopes for this story; the summary made it sound amazing, but the execution was not there.
I love unreliable narrators and super pretentious college students, but I could not get through this story. I ended up DNFing it at 65%.

There were a lot of characters and the plot, to the 65% I got through, was not seamless and had a ot of holes in it.

This story has so much potential, it just needs more editing...

What a crazy story! That Night in the Library is a thriller about seven students who gather in the basement of their university's rare books library to perform a ritual. Pretty much everything that can go wrong will go wrong. It is written with a tremendous atmosphere., at times it feels claustrophobic. And, at one point you can practically smell the blood. Amazing work. The characters were nuts and I mean that literally. They all were crazy in one way or another. The ending was flat for me, it kind of fell off a cliff. However, it is a great page-turner.

I was hooked when I saw the premise for this book, but unfortunately as the story progressed I lost interest. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters and there were so many plot twists I couldn’t keep track.

This was enjoyable although a little silly; felt like a teen novel, though I don't think it's meant to? Still - library fans will get a kick out of all the literary references.