This is the best book I've ever found in NetGalley. Absolute 5 star thriller.

What Richell did with "One Dark Night" was remarkable. She managed to combine a spooky ghost story and a thriller into one satisfying book without leaving threads hanging or unanswered or written off as "supernatural," Shades of Simone St. James but maybe done even better?

The setting in this book came to life and I could feel myself in those woods, shivering in the shadow of the tower. It's rare that an author manages to transform the setting of the book into a character in its own right, but it's one of my favorite things and it was done perfectly here.

I really loved that the book starts out on Halloween and there's plenty of dark and spooky throughout the entire text. I didn't guess the ending even though I thought I did, which was very fun. I enjoyed the characters and they kept me hooked without me hating any of them, which I appreciate. I know some people are engaged by unlikable characters but I'm not, and I was rooting for everyone in this book.

I can't wait to read more books by this author.

A good popcorn thriller that kept me on my toes. I enjoyed the plot twists and it was interesting enough to keep me coming back.

One Dark Night is a thriller/mystery novel set at a private secondary school in a small British town, so it definitely has a dark academia vibe.

A student is found dead in the woods just outside the school, in what seems to be some sort of dark ritual. But, things are not what they seem.

This was a solid thriller/mystery. I had thought the who dunnit was rather obvious. But nope... there was a pretty big twist towards the end.

This is a very tense story. But I found it was on the verge of being a YA thriller, definitely more PG-13, than R. Perhaps because it was set at a secondary school, and is at times told from the perspective of the students.That didn't lesson my enjoyment of it. This one definitely kept me reading.

The main detective has had a marriage breakdown. Brought on by a traumatic loss that they (he) can't seem heal from. His ex-wife and daughter are faculty and students at the school, so the entire family ends up being embroiled in this mystery. Which added an interesting element to the story. But....something I didn't enjoy was his new, much younger partner. For me, this divorced man with a much younger woman, while the ex-wife sits around at home alone, is starting to feel a little cliche and for me, it just did not feel relevant to the story.

But that was a relatively minor thing for me. It did not necessarily lessen my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this for those who are looking for a tense atmospheric mystery, with some dark academia vibes. Especially if you like something that isn't too intense.

A late night party, a town's urban legend - and a girl's body found in the early morning light.

Solid mystery that kept me guessing. I liked our 3 POV - Rachel, the mom and school counselor, Ellie her daughter with questionable movements, and Ben the dad and detective investigating the death. I liked how each POV really flushed out the story and helped us see the twists and turns. I found the conversations easy to read, the students relatively realistic and I loved how it also tied in some homes and conservation of bats and trees. Quick read, I liked it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Wow, this is going ro be a hit for the upcoming fall/spooky season! I absolutely loved it, and couldn't put it down!

For me, this book had it all. The dark woods, spooky ghost story, murder, teenage drama, the confusion and guessing of what happened the night a teenage girl died in the woods.

I highly recommend this one if you're a mystery lover. I can also see this as a YA novel so I think YA lovers will enjoy it too!

Thanks to Netgalley, Hannah Richell and Atria books for this ARC. This one is out tomorrow 8/19!! Be ready for a page turner!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for the free ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Such a thrilling, dark, atmospheric read!

Detective Ben Case is called in to investigate a murder of a teenaged girl in the woods during a Halloween party. He quickly learns that his own daughter, Ellie, was one of the students at the party. His ex-wife, Rachel, a school guidance counselor, is worried about their daughter and the other teens at the school where she works. The circumstances around the death are unusual, and remind many of the old legend of 'Sally in the Wood' - a woman said to have been murdered at the same place, many years ago.

This is a well written, erie thriller. The pacing is fast and the tension builds as the suspense ramps up. I found the police procedure aspect be well done. I was shocked by the murderer's identity as I thought I had it all figure out! Highly recommend!

One Dark Night was one scary read! Creepy crawly with lots of twist. I love the setting, a small town with a spooky local lore on Halloween night. One dead body, lots of teenagers that might or might not be telling the truth. Everyone seems to be hiding something. These are the best types of thrillers. I could not put this down! A definite must read.

A group of high school students head into the woods for a Halloween bash. Fast forward to sunrise, and things take a dark turn. There’s a body found in the woods.

This book is the perfect transition from summer fun to fall chills, making it perfect for now or spooky season!

The story unfolds through the eyes of three characters: Ellie, a partygoer; Rachel, her mom and the high school guidance counselor; and Ben, her dad, who just happens to be the lead detective on the murder case.

From the very first page, I was hooked. The secrets, the lies, and the chilling atmosphere combined with a haunting ghost story/urban legend had me flipping pages like crazy. And let me tell you, the way everything ties together at the end is so clever and totally unexpected.

If you’re on the hunt for a creepy, tension-filled thriller, One Dark Night is your go to read!

Hannah Richell’s One Dark Night is everything suspense should be. Not only do I love a small town/rural location with a local ghost story, but I also love that, just when I think I’ve got it all figured out, the author throws me a curveball and sends me off to hunt for more clues. With plenty of red herrings and intrigue, One Sark Night is a must-read for thriller lovers.

Thank you @Atriabooks and @netgalley for my free copy 💖.

🗓️Out tomorrow! 8/19/25

✨What it is about:
A Halloween party in the woods ends in tragedy. A group of teens visit a haunted spot in the woods and one doesn’t make it out alive. As panic spreads, a guidance counselor, her detective ex, and their secretive daughter get pulled into a web of lies, urban legends, and buried truths.✨

💭My thoughts:
This was an engaging thriller, atmospheric, eerie, and kind of creepy. It was suspenseful, with a final twist that, once it hits, makes everything fall right into place. The mystery kept me hooked the whole time, and as the secrets unfolded (and there were many!), more and more layers of the story unraveled.
What I liked the most is how the mystery kept me guessing. Every time I thought I had something figured out, another secret came out and shifted things. Told from several points of view, it’s a dark story about teenage secrets, haunted pasts, and how old legends can still cause real life nightmares. The multiple perspectives added depth and gave a broader look at how everyone was affected, from the teens to the parents.
That said, I didn’t feel especially connected to any of characters, and some parts felt a bit long or drawn out. It could have been a little tighter. Still, the overall atmosphere and the way the plot came together really worked for me. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
🔦Dark and creepy stories
🔦Teenage character drama
🔦Multiple POVs
🔦 Halloween settings
🔦Urban legends
🔦Slow burn thrillers

⚠️CW: Teen death, murder, mentions of divorce, mentions of pregnancy, miscarriage, catfishing.

A quick-paced thriller with twists and turns and dark academia vibes, this was easy to read in one sitting and had a very high-tension ending that had me on the edge of my seat.

A small town with a fancy prep school, a local ghost that runs around in a long white dress, and a cursed stretch of road that's claimed too many lives...and then one of the prep school students is found dead, dressed like the ghost, with writing all over her body and wearing a crow mask.

We get the perspective of the dean of student welfare at the fancy school and her ex-husband, one of the detectives on the case. And to make it all more complicated, their moody teen daughter is a student at the school, knows the victim, and was at the party where she was last seen alive.

There's lots of legitimate red herrings, more than one crime, and a reminder that sometimes it's not just that teens are young and inexperienced, sometimes they are actually just bad people.

Definitely a good rainy day read or for a cold autumn day!

This was compulsively readable! The chapters are time-stamped, with shifting POVs, that allowed the story to naturally flow in a way that felt like watching a show.

The school setting, creepy woods, and local lore greatly contributed to the eerie atmosphere.

I loved how much depth we get with the characters, their lives, and their inner struggles. I felt truly connected to them and invested in the events unfolding. The level of insight into the human psyche that the author has put into this story made it especially intense and genuinely believable. Everything felt real, complex, and nuanced.

There was such a good balance between just enough foreshadowing that I was able to figure a couple things out myself, and several twists that truly shocked me. I loved putting pieces together while also being surprised. And the twists at the end 🤌🤯

As someone who’s read so many thrillers, this one still managed to feel fresh and exciting. Definitely recommend this one to all the thriller readers out there!

✨ARC Review✨

I love a well-done mystery and One Dark Night is that. It’s also about complicated relationships and consequences of poor decisions.

Set in an English village, this is the story of a young woman found dead at the bottom of a folly after a raucous Halloween party and all those left to figure out what happened.

Detective Sergeant Ben Chase is called to the scene which isn’t far from the private school his daughter attends and where his ex-wife is a counselor. He soon discovers the girl is a student of the school. Now he has to unravel how a beautiful, promising young woman was murdered. By who. And why.

As ever with mysteries, I’m reluctant to give more description, but it was atmospheric with the secluded school setting, the creepy road leading to the folly and the urban legend surrounding it. The messy lives of everyone was interesting. The mystery itself was very well-executed.

Highly recommended for lovers of mysteries, private schools, broken people, and urban legends!

I received this eARC via NetGalley and @atriabooks. All thoughts are mine alone.

mystery novels | one dark night | Hannah Richell | book recs | book review | bookstagram | NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.

What a fun spooky read! Really liked the interwoven characters and the dread that Hannah Richell is able to portray throughout this entire story. Will be great for Halloween time. (for obvious reasons)

Trying to figure out what was happening in the woods kept me hooked. Every hidden detail made me tense and curious, like I was uncovering it alongside the characters.
The pace worked perfectly, steady enough to follow but still full of twists and surprises that kept the tension alive.
The mystery turned in ways I didn’t expect. Each reveal landed hard, making the experience feel real and urgent.
The suspense and discoveries made it impossible to stop thinking about the story, and the feeling of moving through the woods stayed with me the whole time.

Did not finish. The writing was good but I could not get into the story. It was fairly interesting but unfortunately not holding my attention.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I really tried to get into this book, but I’ve been trying and failing to read it for months now multiple times, so I think it’s just simply not for me - there’s something in the writing style just not holding me or drawing me in unfortunately.

Creepy, atmospheric, and full of tension—this book had me hooked from the start. On Halloween night, a group of students from a private school head into the woods, a place rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a murdered girl. What begins as a night of fun and scares quickly turns deadly when one student is killed.

Detective Ben Case is called in to investigate, only to discover that his own daughter, Ellie, was at the party. His ex-wife Rachel, the school’s head of student welfare, is equally drawn into the case as both a professional and a mother. With their family pulled into the investigation, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

As suspicion spreads and secrets begin to unravel, old wounds resurface, and the adults are forced to face not only the murder but also their own personal struggles. The author brilliantly balances the eerie ghost-story atmosphere with a gripping police procedural and layers of family drama.

I especially enjoyed the vivid descriptions, the tension between the characters, and the unexpected twists. Just when I thought I had solved the mystery, the author completely fooled me, the final reveal was shocking and satisfying.

This story blends the creepiness of folklore with the suspense of a murder mystery and the emotional depth of family relationships. It’s mysterious, chilling, and at times has a YA feel due to the school setting.

If you enjoy dark and atmospheric reads with police investigations, family drama, and ghostly legends woven in, this one is definitely worth picking up.

A group of teenagers have a party near Sally in the Wood, a haunted road where a girl was allegedly murdered years ago. By the next morning one is dead.
Rachel is a counselor at the school and her ex Ben is a detective. They find out that their daughter was also there.
Ben investigates the case and things begin to unravel.
This was a creepy kinda gothic thriller that had me glued to the pages from start to finish. I can’t wait to read more by this author.
Thanks NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC that will be released August 19, 2025!

4.25 stars. What a great atmospheric + spooky tale that put my nerves on edge! Small town secrets surround a students death on Halloween that seemingly ties in with the creepy local legend of “Sally in the Wood.” And that jaw dropping revelation at the end, who would have guessed, tied all the pieces together brilliantly! I recommend to anyone who enjoys a DARK psychological thriller with a mystery that has you second guessing yourself to its very end. Pub. 8/19/25

Much thanks to Atria Books via NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.