Holy crap. I was expecting to read something a little creepy, but this story far exceeded my expectations. What started as a classic cornstalk horror story turned into a beautiful coming of age tale, highlighting empathy, the importance of friendship, and reflecting on the cycle of abuse and confronting your own demons. The story was reminiscent of As Above, So Below and In the Tall Grass, which are some of my horror favorites. There is a bit of a sci-fi element to this story as well. I am so grateful that Sarah Hollowell was vulnerable enough to share such a significant part of her life. You can tell how much this means to her and I hope this means she is healing. I just know the story is incredible when I want to see the story play out on the big screen. I can’t wait to try Sarah’s other books. Thank you NetGalley and Sarah Hollowell for this audiobook galley!

<i> Best friends and high school seniors Sadie and Logan make their first mistake when they ditch their end-of-year field trip to the amusement park in favor of exploring some old, forgotten backroads. The last thing they expect to come across is a giant, abandoned corn maze.

But with a whole day of playing hooking unspooling before them, they make their second mistake. Or perhaps their third? Maybe even their fourth. Because Sadie and Logan have definitely entered this maze before. And again before that.

When they stumble on the corpses in the maze, identical to them in every way (if you can ignore the stab and gunshot wounds)--from their clothes to their hidden scars to their dyed hair, to that one missing tooth--they quickly realize they’ve not only entered this maze before, they’ve died in it too. A lot. And no matter what they try, they can’t figure out what—or who—is hunting them.

Deeply unnerving, clever, and atmospheric, this time-bending, mind-bending speculative horror is a poignant meditation on the lasting effects of trauma and the healing powers of connection and forgiveness—all while delivering more surprise twists and turns than a haunted corn maze. </i>

I’m struggling with exactly how to rate and review this one. Is it a 4 star read? A 5 star? Or 3 1/2? Splitting the difference for now, but I’m definitely going to be ruminating on this one for awhile. What Stalks Among Us is in turns fascinating, puzzling, deeply disturbing, frustrating, and entertaining. The author’s note at the end about her experience with trauma and domestic violence added a meaningful and somber note to things, with resources provided for those in need. And perhaps, this whole book to help others feel less alone in their struggles through the maze.

Thank you Sarah Hollowell, Harper Audio, Clarion Books, and NetGalley and for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a really fun (and trippy) ride. Sadie and Logan forgo their school's fieldtrip to explore Brown County (a super rural area) and they end up at a corn maze that is fully grown even though it is out of season. Then they find a *dead body* that they assume at first is just a mannequin or a prop. But, then they realize the dead body is actually the body of one of the two exploring teens! (All of this happens in the first and second chapters, by the way). This was super trippy and timey-wimey and fast paced. After their discovery, the maze gets even wilder with doors appearing and new turns and crazy events. I read this so, so quickly and yearned for more even after it was done. I am so excited for my library to get physical copies of this--I just know our teens will absolutely eat this up, and I am always super excited to introduce great YA horror to the collection!
I thought that the audiobook was a great way to listen to this story. I feel like it really frees up an extra bit of your imagination to really visualize what is going on. I loved it! I can't wait to hear it with the finalized narrator--I will definitely be requesting this for my library!

Wow.

You look at this cover. You see two people peering through a corn field. You think you can expect Autumnal vibes, maybe. Maybe a romance. You read this book. You complete this book. This was not the book that you'd expect.

Meet Sadie and Logan, high school seniors, filled with the wanderlust of youth. They see a corn maze. Then everything starts to go sideways.

They wander through the corn maze and you can smell the fields. You can feel the warmth of the sun. You can hear the corn rustling in the breeze. Right off the bat, the writing is a completely visceral experience, unspooling immediately into a chaotic sense of anxiety. This felt cinematic to me - the gradual reveal that they're walking in circles. The clever drops of buttons to find their way out like Ariadne. And then boom: we're hit with corpses of their bodies.

The first half of this book was frantic and made me feel crazy. I had no idea what was happening and it made me feel all the more ready to find out.

The second half of this book was a gut punch. This was not the book that you'd expect. This was a deeply thought out metaphor for trauma and was so delicately and accurately written it could have only been produced by an author that knew what trauma felt like.

I don't want to spoil with too many details, but the amount of details and thought that went into this was shocking. We read about trauma, but we also read about how we can become trapped in trauma spirals. We read about how trauma can stay with us, cause us to hurt other people. We also read about how we have to work on healing ourselves so we don't become part of the cyclic patterns, too.

This book meant a ton to me.

Thank you to Harper Audio & Clarion Books via NetGalley for this one.