If you like Greek mythology, this book's for you. If you like locked room mysteries and you were ever tempted to get a backup charger for your phone, were afraid of the dark, or hated the smell of blood, you need to read this!

It was supposed to be a ritual, honoring the Eleusinian Mysteries and the myth of Persephone. No one was supposed to die. An after-hours ceremony in the rare books basement storage of the library. A drug fueled evening of storytelling and secrets.

Davey was the host. He wanted to show he was in charge, that the ceremony would result in attendees leaving fearless.

• Ro was there to protect Umu, his lifelong best friend.
• Umu was there because she thought it was going to be a party, and she was invited by her TA, Kip.
• Soraya was invited as Davey's assistant and because her boyfriend could get the special sauce for the celebration. But she was there because she wanted "real" experiences.
• Kip was there because he was Soraya's boyfriend, and she invited him. Davey allowed it because Kip was bringing the drugs.
• Mary was there because Davey thought she was smart and could keep a secret.
• Faye was simply there because they needed a 7th person. But she wanted to attend at least one party before she graduated....maybe she would even make new friends.

When the bodies start dropping and Davey loses control, Faye takes the responsibility for getting everyone through the night. But who can they trust? And who started it all?

There was a great deal of knowledge about rare books shared at throughout the book that created a bit of a slow start, and it was a little hard to keep track of what was going on and what the relationships were. However, once everyone gathered in the basement, things took off like a slingshot!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance reader's copy.

Spending a night locked in a library is something that I have dreamed of since I was a child. In this book, a group of students about to graduate plan a very detailed night, in the basement of a library once everyone has gone home. What they didn’t plan for was murder being on the guest list. With no way out until morning, how many of them will survive. Oh, and who is the killer?
I can’t say any of the characters really grabbed me, but the reason that they were there, and the overall plot captured my interest. If I ever do get to spend the night locked in a library, I hope that I emerge unscathed.

3.5⭐️
I’ve been a lover of locked room mysteries since I watched Clue. It’s still my favorite board game to this day.
This felt very much like something would happen. A group of 7 people are brought together to party and do a ritual the last night of their college year. Most of them work in the library, but aren’t really friends. When the first person dies, it’s anyone’s guess who makes it through the night. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters but I did understand their motivations for participating and found some to root for.
This felt like a locked door mystery with the violence level of a slasher movie. I wasn’t actually sure what happened until the reveal. And I didn’t guess right!
🎧 Hannah Cabell did a good job narrating. There was a good difference between the calmer moments and the action scenes which helped heighten the emotions. I’d recommend this one on audio if it sounds interesting.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Recorded Books for the arc and alc.

A group of seven decide to spend the night before graduation in the basement of William E. Woodend Rare Books Library in Vermont to participate in a ritual that they believe will set them free from the fear of death. Of the seven, three of them are students working as assistants in the library each hoping to secure the one permanent position being offered after graduation; another is a PhD student/TA who frequents the library for his research and also convinces one of his students to bring along a friend who would supply the drugs they would need for the ritual; and the other is a socially awkward scientist who is involved in a project for the library. After the library closes for the day, they lock themselves in the basement and commence with the ritual. In a shocking turn of events, one of them suddenly dies and the other, unable to exit the building with scheduled routine maintenance rendering them unable to communicate with anyone on the outside, are left to fend for themselves with a killer in their midst.

I was intrigued by the premise of That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk. A locked room mystery set in a library, that too a rare books library, and a ritual rooted in Greek myths – this one checked all the boxes for this bibliophile who loves Greek mythology.

The narrative is shared from multiple perspectives and moves quickly enough, but none of the characters were particularly interesting and I soon got tired of their bickering, bouts of self-pity, and overall immature behavior. The final reveal was underwhelming, to say the least, and everything in between was bizarre. I don’t mind OTT (it is expected in this genre), but in this case, the plot was simply too messy (literally and figuratively) and absurd, to take seriously.

I struggled to finish this one and in hindsight, I should have followed my instincts and abandoned it mid-read but I didn’t in hopes that maybe, just maybe…..but sadly, I couldn’t find anything that appealed to me other than the premise and the element of Greek mythology. Perhaps I wasn’t the right audience for this one.

Overall, I can’t say that I enjoyed this novel. However, I would request you to read other reviews before making a decision about reading this one.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Actually, I had high expectations for this book because the premise seemed promising and intriguing. I admit that this book had a lot of potential. Sadly, I have to say that I DNF-ed (did not finish) the book after reaching 20% because I struggled with the writing style and was confused by the numerous POVs. The POVs changed too quickly, and I felt they were disjointed. I think it might have been better if each POV had been written in more pages.

** spoiler alert ** I had such high hopes for this book. I used to work for an academic library with a special collections department, the vault, the rare books circa 1600s, all of it. The premise of the closed-door murder mystery in the library is great and could have made for a fascinating story, but this book did not deliver.
The writing is stilted and uneven, with weird turns of words and side stories that come up at the strangest times.

“She had a plan and decided it wasn’t impossible and in the end, it wasn’t.”

“I’m not sitting here and waiting to be hunted because, what, because my parents have a summer home?”

“Davey got himself a little dog. He was a Jack Russell terrier who Davie named Nero, and he was such a nightmare that Davie had to pay a roommate…” - why not say, “Davie got a little dog, Jack Russell, and named him Nero. The dog was such a nightmare, Davie had to pay a roommate…”

I digress. Some of it might get the final polish by the editors but I doubt they can get it all. At this point, it’s the author’s style, I suppose.

The writing seems most involved and interesting when the writer talks about the history and inner workings of the library.

Yet sapping up blood with pages of rare books is a scene that she also decided to write? How does it even make sense? Don’t they all wear clothes that would work much better as a makeshift bandage or cleaning cloth? And how did all these people who love the library all of a sudden become okay with the pointless destruction of priceless manuscripts?

Other WTH moments include but are not limited to:

- what kind of acid was it? They all just became cold-blooded killers?
- when a supposed killer is already in a small room that they just used to confine another supposed killer, why are they trying to open the door and get the “killer” out? Why not barricade the door again?
- no first aid was provided whatsoever, and no curiosity of “can we save this person?” Especially with the first death.
- the motivation behind the killings is flimsy at best
- The backstories are great, but they did not add anything in most cases.
- all characters are pathetic and unlikable.
- Faye is insufferable.
- Was there a ghost?
- the weird “I’m rich, and you are poor, is that why you want to kill me?” flex was reaching, even for a high person.
- they didn’t have to do Ariana Grande dirty like that.
- I don’t think I can eat corn now.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an early reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

Audience: Adult
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Keywords: Survival, libraries, college campuses, college students, murder mystery

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley (Thank you Poisoned Pen Press)
This is a fast-paced psychological thriller that focuses on a group of college students who decide to spend a night locked in the basement of the academic library.

Inspired by the Eleusinian Mysteries from Greek Mythology, Davey sets out to recreate the ritual with 6 other people. The ritual includes fasting for 24 hours, taking drugs, and staying locked in the basement all night. When one of the members ends up dying, the group is quick to accuse each other, and the hunt for the killer begins.

This novel is told from all 7 POVs— and each chapter denotes who is speaking which is very helpful. Out of all the characters, my favorite character was Faye, whose fear of embarrassment prevented her from doing a lot of things, and because of that, she tried to keep her innocence throughout the novel, despite what happened. But since her experience, the reader saw how she transformed into a completely different person, which is reminiscent of a lot of horror films and books. The plot is fast-paced, and there are quite a few of flashbacks used to help explain the characters motivations which were helpful. Throughout the novel, there is quite a bit of violence and drug use depicted. There was a twist ending that I didn’t even foresee, and I was completely blown away.

I would recommend this book to anyone who may enjoy horror, suspense, and psychological thrillers.

This book was very interesting.I like the murder aspect of it. Everybody had a chapter and they explained why they were in this library at night before they were gonna graduate From college. Everybody had problems They all had a different story somewhere from the town of vor not. Dar VE1 was a librarian there.He was about to graduate. He set this ritual up because he liked books and he like rituals. This was interesting because they took a greek mythology in with this basement and they tied it all together. K I p was a Teacher assistant's getting ready to get his masters degree. You are Mau.Was student there in the college?Because her mother taught there and she was from the town. She had a friend named Roy who worked at Applebee's.And did not like the college smart People. S o r a y e what's the only black person in this group. Fl AY was the outsider because she never fit in with anybody. Mary was there as well. Murders took place in different parts of this basement library.And they also explained the history and how this college was built. Everybody did acid except For Mary and f l a y. Mary lied about taking it she did not. Things became really crazy when kip died. I'm ready for stripping and everybody excusing everybody everybody. It was interesting. How everybody died in this book? You'll find out and who The Only 2 survivors of this Crazy adventure..

This book is basically every librarian’s nightmare or at least this one’s nightmare. A murder taking place in the library. But what can I say it still kept me turning pages because I just had to know what happened. Even if I had to sleep with the light on for a few nights.

The night before graduation, seven students slip into the rare book library of their university to carry out a Greek rite that is supposed to release them from their fear of dying. They pick the closed library because of its perfect environment. The lights go out as they start, and one pupil passes away unexpectedly. Before they can start their new lives, the group must solve the riddle and figure out how to survive the night while trapped in the dark with a killer among them and nothing but books for protection.

I was captivated from the moment I read the synopsis of this academic-sounding mystery thriller. The idea offered the ideal balance of cerebral curiosity and tension. As soon as I read the summary of this mysterious thriller with an academic tone, I became engrossed. The concept provided just the right amount of tension and intellectual curiosity. Despite the book's virtues, the writing style.

This book had so much potential. I liked the concept, but there was something lacking. 7 college kids hide in the library overnight to perform a Greek ritual before they graduate and go their separate ways. Then one of them dies. They panic wondering which one of them is the killer as they continue to get picked off one by one. At one point, the death of one of them made me gasp and then laugh out loud (although I don’t think it was meant to be funny). I was sucked into the crazy for a bit once the story got going and I did think the ending was decent. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

I was very excited to dive in to this intriguing story. It had such a unique premise. However there were big issues that I couldn’t get past, and for me, the character development just wasn’t there. I did not get a chance to care anything about the characters before…BAM… murder. I still have so many questions that will never be answered. I felt that the pacing was off and everything went so fast.
I really really wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t for me.
To me, it was a 2.7 read but I will round up for the idea alone..

I was excited for this book because I wanted to know what would make these individuals want to stay overnight in a library? I got my answer soon enough and it wasn’t convincing. Why would a group of students that barely know each other agree to such an event? The reason never made sense and as the story moved along it became less and less believable. Learning more about each character made it even less likely this group of people would agree to this arrangement. The ending wasn’t really satisfying for me because I wasn’t a fan of the twist and thought the story was unconvincing.

Not much to say here. This story never took off. It took too long to get to any action. Then backstories kept interrupting. I didn’t actually read it all.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for letting me read this. I wish I had better things to say about it.

The premise of the book was an interesting one, a "ritual" mirroring that of the story of Demeter/Persephone, and an homage of sorts. A few graduate students that also happen to work in the local rare collections library find themselves invited to this ritual after-hours in the basement. The issues begin as soon as they start questioning each other's intentions and what they confuse the evening's purpose to be. I liked the characters and overall set up of the story. I am an avid reader and absolutely adore going to the library almost weekly, so I was interested in reading this book since it took place there. As I delved deeper into the book, I found that the book was dragging things out a bit and really wished that there was more substance to the story and that the reader could have known more about the history behind why the main character's and other's actions. This certainly has a great horror/thriller aspect to it, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I felt the ending was a bit rushed and didn't really tie up loose ends. However, I would still be interested in reading more from Eva Jurczyk and will look into her other work.

An intriguing premise that, unfortunately, fell apart in the middle. Other mystery lovers will certainly devour it.

I really enjoyed Jurczyk's first novel and was excited to read this new one. It is a different premise - a group of students who work in a rare books' library decide to do a Greek ritual at the end of the school year. The students are loosely acquainted but not fast friends. They sneak in at closing time and proceed to the basement for the ritual...where everything starts to go wrong. One by one, the students are picked off and we are left wondering who is the killer and what is going on.

I enjoyed it, not as much as the first one, and found myself not quite connecting with the characters. However it was a good read and I am happy I got to preview it.

Although the premise caught my attention immediately, unfortunately the book fell flat. I found it too slow paced, contrived and confusing with the numerous POVs, it felt like it needed more details in some areas (ie. actual sacrifice) and less character POVs. However I did appreciate the twist at the end but it was already too late to save the book for me. As well I did love the dark academia setting of a rare book library.

However, read this book if you like:
-slow burn
-multiple POVs
-dark academia
-locked room mystery
-Greek mythology
-rituals and sacrifices
-some twists and red herrings
-rare book conservation
-old library basement setting

My rating 2 1/2 stars out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC that will be published June 11 2024.

Great sounding premise, not so great delivery. This one just didn’t do it for me. The description sounded great - students lock themselves in the library the night before graduation to perform a ritual and then start turning up dead - but so much time was spent trying to make these characters interesting that the actual action of it was lost during all the shifting POV. Usually shifting point of views can keep the reader off-guard, and allows the tension to build but unfortunately it just made this reader bored. And the final reveal ended up feeling like such a disappointment and didn’t really answer all the questions, so overall, I didn’t feel like my time was worth spending on this book. Other readers may enjoy it, but this one didn’t really connect with it.

I didn't know what to expect going into this story as I only picked it based on the word "library" in the title. Overall I found this to be a very intriguing and somewhat disturbing psychological thriller that showed how quickly a group of friends and acquaintances can fall into fear and chaos in one night. You can really feel the characters emotions reading through this book.