The characters were interesting and damaged, this was a good ghost story, scary, supernatural, with solid red herrings peppered along the way

3.7
I wanted it, I really did, but it took sooooo looong to get anywhere worth being that, by the time I got there, it mattered much less than it should have.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of this title!

Simone St James did not disappoint with this new book! It follows 3 siblings as they try to figure out what happened to their brother who disappeared at 6 years old. This was creepy but also kept me up at night because I couldn’t put it down! All of the siblings were strange in their own way which made them a bit unreliable. This made the story even better! I can’t wait for this one to publish so everyone else can enjoy it!

This was a spooky, yet poignant, read. The Esmie siblings have been tormented all their lives by both supernatural experiences and the very real disappearance of their baby brother. When they get a message to come home, they all do, despite the their childhood home being a very dark place for all of them. Their investigation makes them question everything - no one can prove their baby brother existed. They are determined to find out once and for all what really happened, even if it means confronting the darkness that has haunted them all their lives.

3.75 stars

I love St James. I loved this book. While it’s not my top read for her catalog, it was very good. I enjoyed the little throw backs to other books within this story, and I really related to the siblings and their relationships. That love/hate but always deep love in the end.

It was not nearly as scary to me as Sundown, more of a thriller w a supernatural twist perhaps.

3.5 stars

The three Essie siblings, Violet, Vail and Dodie, grow up in Fell, New York, partially feral as neither parent had much interest in them. One thing that united them was their love for their much younger brother, Ben; they cared for him like he belonged to them. However, when Ben was six and the four were playing a game of hide and go seek in their house, Ben hid…and was never seen again.

The remaining three siblings left Fell as soon as they could but all struggle as adults. Now, though, Ben is calling them back to the house because he wants to be found.

The book bridges the gap between thriller and horror. I think I’ve read St. James before but, if so, I can’t recall what book(s) and whether I liked it/them or not. This was not bad at all, a lot of your standard haunted house tropes. The characters were well drawn, the plot a bit predictable. Some very nice basement scenes that may stick with me and make me very glad I do not have a basement. Her regular readers will likely enjoy this.

I'm usually not a huge fan of paranormal books, but this one held my interest better than most. I figure out the the plot pretty quickly, but the characters were all written in a way that wanted me to see it till the end.

Who doesn’t love a good 1980’s haunting, a time before cell phones and quick access to safety. Simone St. James is a master of paranormal mysteries, but this one lost its way the last part of the story. A baby that arrived unexpectedly and was raised mostly by his older siblings. The twist missed the mark.

I AM OBSESSED. I think that I might just love everything that Simone St James writes. This book was so good and the buildup was intense. I was worried, like usual with horror novels, that the ending would disappoint - blessedly I was so happy with the ending.

Three siblings travel back to their hometown of Fell, NY, to investigate the disappearance of their younger brother almost twenty years prior. Told through the perspectives of each sibling, the reader is plunged into the darkness of their past and present lives leading up to a conclusion more terrifying than the nightmares that led them there.

Simone St. James has yet again created a hauntingly beautiful tale. Within the first few words, I was pulled into the story along with the siblings sharing their grief and witnessing their horrors. The atmospheric, fictional location of Fell, NY, became a character in itself, and I absolutely loved the nods to her previous novels throughout. This was eerie and tragic and somehow beautiful at the same time. As the story progressed, so did the suspense with equal momentum. Written with such a compelling style that this author has clearly mastered, this will consume its reader. By the end, I felt like I was still curious about certain things, but it worked for this particular story. As with the world we live in, not everything can be explained. Four solid stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group, for this ARC.

“𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒙 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕.”~𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑶𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓

This is only my third read from this author, but I already recognized her style early in this one--atmospheric, chilling, and a slow burn tinged with dread.

Siblings Violet, Vail, and Dodie Esmie return to the house they fled eighteen years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his pleading request to 'come home'. Six-year-old Ben disappeared during a routine game of hide-and-seek, and the siblings have been haunted by their own personal demons ever since.

Both the town of Fell, New York, and the ancestral home itself are almost main characters in the book. The sense of foreboding was almost too intense in places, and when the mystery of Ben's disappearance begins to unravel, I never expected the direction it would take.

This was so much more than just a haunted house book. It was about the sadness of an unfulfilled childhood, the bond between siblings, and getting the answers from the past that you both desire and fear. Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this early copy. Look for this one January 20, 2026.

A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James is a cleverly woven tale that will send shivers down your spine—think shadows lurking just beyond the edge of sight and secrets buried beneath the quiet streets of Fell, New York. From the first eerie incident—the mysterious drowning at the roadside motel—to the unsettling discovery of a girl’s body by the railroad tracks, the story plunges into a world where nothing is quite what it seems. The Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—are haunted by their past, and their return to the town after two decades feels like stirring a pot of long-buried darkness. Each of them bears scars of ghostly visions, childhood fears, and a missing brother who vanished into thin air during a game of hide-and-seek—except, as we soon learn, this game was never really over. Now, with Ben back and secrets threatening to crack the fragile surface of their lives, the question remains: can they uncover the truth before the ghosts of Fell take them too? Creepy, atmospheric, and filled with twists that keep you guessing, Simone St. James masterfully blurs the line between the living and the dead. Expect whispers in the dark, chilling revelations, and a mystery that deepens with every page turn. It’s a story that lingers—part haunted tale, part family drama, all wrapped in shadows that beg the question: what darkness lies beneath? If you love a spooky, twisty read with enough ghostly secrets to keep you guessing until the very end, this book is a must. Just beware of the shadows—you never know what they might hide.

This is my third Simone St. James novel, and honestly, I’m starting to see a pattern: killer premise, moody atmosphere, solid writing—and then the ending just kind of deflates. To be fair, even the greats struggle with endings (looking at you, King), but it’s still a letdown when you’re all in on the mystery and it fizzles instead of lands.
The story had me early. Weird things happening in a creepy little town, missing kid, haunted sisters—it’s the kind of setup that begs you to keep turning pages. And I did, mainly because I had to know how the original mystery played out. If it hadn’t been that compelling, I probably would’ve DNF’d.
The writing is strong and each character has a distinct voice, but here’s the rub: I couldn’t stand the siblings. At all. Which made the emotional core of the book fall flat for me. That said, I’ll still read more from St. James. When she nails it, she really does. This just wasn’t one of those times.

We follow three siblings, Violet, Vail, and Dodie, as they travel back to Fell, NY 18 years after their brother Ben went missing during a game of hide-and-seek. Their family falls apart, and the siblings become estranged.

Violet cleans the houses of people that have passed away. Only issue, sometimes she can see the people who are no longer alive.

Vail is a UFO investigator. He won't allow himself to get close to anyone. Always with the witty remarks, he masks his pain behind humor.

Dodie is a model. Always going on first dates, but never a second.

When they arrive back to the place they once call home, strange things start happening. Like wet footprints on a dusty floor the size of a small child and the ghost of their brother asking them to find him.

I loved the haunted house feel of this story. It was creepy and thrilling.

Dark and Twisty with a sprinkle of family trauma. This was a fun read, and if you like ghost stories or thrillers, you should definitely check this out!

Huge thanks to Simone St. James, NetGalley, and Berkley for the copy of this book!

As always, Simone St. James has proven herself to be the master of the ghost story, but having said that, her ghost stories are so much more. They are the backdrop for the author to explore family relationships, trauma, and the power of love and friendship to triumph over all challenges.

In this outing, the Esmie siblings, Vail, Violet, and Dodie, return to their family home which each had fled 18 years ago, following the disappearance of their younger brother Ben. Ben's disappearance has wrought havoc on each of the siblings' ability to connect with other people, and their lives are disasters, each in their own way.

Brought back to their family home in Fell, New York (a town marked by mystery and death which has appeared in other St. James books) by a plea from Ben's ghost, the trio faces the malevolent supernatural force that made their childhoods nightmarish. Long suppressed mysteries are revealed in suspenseful, startling twists.

Put aside an evening, preferably, a dark and stormy one, to read this one and lose yourself in St. James' spellbinding storytelling.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

The Esmie siblings have never recovered from the disappearance of their brother, Ben, when they were children. All of the siblings have a special, supernatural power, but Violet, who has always seen the dead, is suffering even more as the ghost she calls Sister, becomes more insistent. Gathering together her far flung siblings, she sets out to discover what happed to Ben all those years ago. St James is an author I follow closely, she writes the best, the creepiest stories out there

Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James is a chilling and twisty read! It contains supernatural horror, family trauma, and slow building suspense. The Esmie siblings are still haunted by their brother Ben’s disappearance years ago. The author does a great job writing their return to New York, complete with eerie visions and long buried secrets revealed. I really enjoyed the sibling dynamics in this book, and the twists totally caught me off guard!

I always dive headfirst into Simone St. James’s books without reading the blurb, checking the genre, or even considering my work schedule—because let’s be honest, I’ll end up ignoring all responsibilities anyway. Why? Because I need my full focus to let her scare the living daylights out of me!

This particular book is an extra-special treat—it takes us back to the same eerie universe where The Sun Down Motel unfolds and even brings in a side character linked to The Broken Girls, two of my absolute favorite novels from St. James.

Imagine this: a fractured family, three siblings carrying invisible scars—haunted, neglected, and deeply marked by a shared tragedy. When they were young, their six-year-old brother Ben vanished without a trace. Their lives were shattered, and they each coped in wildly different, heartbreaking ways.

Violet, the oldest, has seen ghosts for as long as she can remember—visions that cost her everything: her marriage, custody of her daughter Lisette, and even her freedom when she was locked away in a psychiatric ward. She now works one of the most harrowing jobs imaginable: cleaning out the homes of the recently deceased... and yes, sometimes bumping into their lingering spirits. She’s tried to drink her trauma away, but the ghosts don’t care.

Vail, the middle sibling, was once a competitive diver—now he’s a fringe UFO investigator, drifting through towns and flings, hiding his pain behind sarcasm and solitude. And then there’s Dodie—dramatic, impulsive, emotionally explosive. She lives in New York, models hands and hair, goes on first dates but never second ones, and keeps everyone at arm’s length.

The siblings have long been estranged, each burying their shared trauma in different ways. But everything changes when Violet receives a call from landscapers working at their old childhood home in Fell. They saw something—or rather, someone. A boy. Six years old summoning his siblings to come home.

Ben is back. Or at least... something pretending to be him is.

If they want answers about his mysterious disappearance, they must return to the haunted house of their youth—where dark memories and sinister forces await them. But Ben’s case isn’t the only strange happening in the neighborhood. Violet’s only childhood friend had been found dead on the railroad tracks—heart failure, they say, but suspiciously young for that. And other boys have gone missing over the years. The danger is far from over.

Violet is hiding a secret about a ghost that tormented her as a child. Vail believes he was targeted by aliens. And Dodie? She keeps having the same recurring nightmare, night after night. What if their nightmares are more than trauma? What if they’re connected—to each other, to Ben, and to something evil?

Can they confront this malevolent force together, or will it destroy them the way it tried to destroy Ben? Think It meets The Haunting of Hill House with Simone St. James’s signature chills and character depth.

Let me just say—I was hooked! I absolutely loved the haunted house atmosphere, the slow-burning mystery of Ben, the clever references to The Sun Down Motel, and the emotional depth of these three beautifully broken siblings. It's a story of ghosts, grief, and ultimately, healing. The jump scares are perfectly timed, the pacing razor-sharp, and the ending incredibly satisfying. Simone St. James delivers yet again with a paranormal thriller that crawls under your skin and stays there.

⭐ Final Verdict: A must-read for 2026! Fans of old-school Stephen King, ghost stories with heart, and gripping mysteries—you need this book on your radar.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for granting me an early copy of one of my most anticipated paranormal thrillers in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Three siblings have been summoned home by the ghost of their six-year-old brother Ben, who disappeared playing hide and seek, but now wants to be found. The setting is Fell, NewYork used more than once by author St.James, where strange and horrible happenings are the norm, and where the siblings lives were derailed. There was a reason they ran away from this house all those years ago, but they’ve never escaped it.Coming together for the first time in years they’re not leaving until they finally figure out the mystery that has haunted them every day. Deliciously scary, you won’t want to put this down.

I really like all of Simone St. James' novels. This one did fall a little short for me most likely because I really loved all of the ones that came before. It was not bad, it just was not on the same level as previous novels.