This book is absolutely bonkers and the ending is a total WHAT THE HECK (I went back and re-read a couple of things to make sure all the details made sense); but it was a very clever locked room mystery and if you're a fan of the genre, this is a crazy ride you should take.

Wow wow wow!,!,!!! This was so good! What a fun premise. The Greek tie ins were so good! This was a fun dark academia book!

I am an absolute sucker when it comes to locked room mysteries so I was very excited to read this book, especially when it's a locked room mystery that takes place in the library. It sounds like the best mystery ever.

Is that being said, it was a little bit of a letdown. The story itself was good and very entertaining. There's definitely some intense thrilling moments and the mystery was decent. However, the resolution was not entirely believable.

This book revolves around seven people who are all invited to this sort of ceremony that will take place overnight in the library at their school. They're very mixed bag of people, not the kind of group that you would necessarily see together.

All of the characters did feel very flushed out and well developed. So through the course of the book you do get to know more about them and little secrets that they're hiding that does help build some of the suspense.

All in all, I would say that if you're looking for a traditional kind of YA locked room mystery then this is definitely one that you should pick up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I really loved the idea of this novel, but I did not enjoy it much. The pacing, to me, felt very slow up until the end. I also felt like there were numerous moments where I was reading page after page of completely useless information. I get building your world, characters, and your story, but they were just completely irrelevant. I also felt like the writing was hard to follow. I did like that the chapters were short, but overall it just never really held my attention.

You had me at Library. Anything involving books or libraries will draw me in. I was ready for something epic but this story fell short for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but this scenario has been done too many times. College kids, drugs, death. Same old story. I did like reading things from every characters POV. I wish there was a bit more character development. There wasn't a character who stood above the rest. Faye was intriguing to me but I needed more. Overall, an easy read but not one I would be recommending easily.

While I love a mystery that has multiple characters, Suspects, and motives, the circular writing was not for me. I found the characters to be lackluster and only a few were fleshed out. I found the writing to be repetitive which lowered the score for me.
While the body count was right up my alley, I found the motivations and the explanations lacking. The characters were a type of selfish I've never seen before and it did not lean well to my reading experience.

I have never read anything by this author before, but I will be watching out what else they publish! This book kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the end.

THAT NIGHT IN THE LIBRARY is a twisty, violent whodunnit that I thoroughly enjoyed. When a murder occurs when a group of students is trapped in their library basement, everyone is a suspect. Throughout the night, suspicion shifts around in a compelling, effective way. Definitely recommend for all fans of closed-door mysteries!

This was a fun read with an interesting premise: a group of (mostly) students decide to lock themselves in a college library basement overnight to perform a drug-infused ritual. As a classic whodunnit set-up, it's only a matter of time before someone dies. The reason why I only rated this 3 stars is that after the first death, which was quite creepy, the author didn't bring me along in truly believing any one person might be guilty. The potential motives or lack thereof made the latter portion of the book feel more like a comic bloodbath. While I did not anticipate the ending, and that was satisfying, the plot wasn't quite enough for me.

I love a locked-in mystery, but sometimes it's hard to execute. I think that Jurczyk did a great job at developing the story and the characters. Yet, I just wasn't connected to the story. It could be that I'm reading <i>The Secret History</i> at the same time (similar setting - college in Vermont), or that I want to pick up other books.

There aren't really any likeable characters - which is hard in a locked-in mystery - because you kind of want SOMEONE to root for. Even Faye was frustrating. Not sure if I would recommend this one, but curious to see other readers' reviews once this book is published.

That Night in the Library was well executed by the author. Easy read, not as fast paced as some other thrillers I've read, but the setups were necessary. Great vacation read, I got through it in three days!

I was very excited to pick The Night in the Library as I love any store set in a library, especially a mystery. This book was a quick read and an easy modern day whodunit.

The seven handpicked students at University are brought to a rare book library the night before graduation for an unplanned ritual. A ritual from the Greeks supposed to banish the fear of death.

Within minutes of consuming drugs one participant drops dead seemingly of poisoning. Suspicions and fears grow as panic sets into the group. The death toll begins to rise.

I loved that the story was told from each characters point of views individually building a rapport with each student involved x The story read quick, but left me still wanting something a bit more. The plot was incredibly unique for a locked in mystery. I would definitely read another title by this author.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #PoisonedPress for the opportunity to read this e-ARC

This was a totally different kind of read that I usually read.
A mystery set in a locked room in a library with 7 different pov's - and a display of human nature.
I liked the book talks :)

That Night in the Library never connected with me and felt very basic and to me was a lackluster mystery overall. I never cared for the characters or even the mystery even though Eva Jurczyk tries to build suspense and develop these characters.

This was a fun, different take on the locked room mystery. In this case, a group including a rich teaching assistant, his students and some library staff lock themselves into the rare archive basement of the library overnight. they have the idea to complete a Greek inspired ceremony to remove any fear from their lives. Obviously this goes horribly wrong and something or someone starts to take them out one by one. When they turn on each other, nobody knows who is safe and who they can trust.
I won't spoil it here in case anyone is reading the reviews before the book, but it was fun, if you don't take it overly seriously - which you should never do with this style of book anyway! however the ending and explanation of what actually happened was a little weaker than I would have liked.

This is a 7 person POV book, which are seemingly miserable college students. These 7 decide to lock themselves in the schools rare library for a night, where the library tech who has an obsession with Ancient Greece, decides to perform a ritual inspired by Demeter Persephone. They do a little drugs, the lights go out and then when someone dies, they turn on each other in your classic game of whodunnit!

I do really wish I had more to say without giving spoilers, but I honestly didn’t enjoy this book like I thought I would. It wasn’t as “grabby” as I like my thrillers, but that’s probably just my ADHD 🤣 I could see people absolutely loving this book, but I can also understand those who wouldn't love it.

All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own, huge THANK YOU to Poisoned Pen Press & NetGalley for the Advanced Readers copy of That Night In The Library.

The premise of this book was fantastic—I love books about books, and a “locked room” mystery set in a library sounded right up my alley. But, I found it really difficult to engage in this story and thought about DNF’ing the book multiple times. I found the pace of the book very slow; it only really picked up near the end. The characters were unlikeable, it did not seem like their interactions were believable, and their behavior was abysmal. There were a number of points when I had trouble understanding what was written and I wondered if these random and incomprehensible statements were supposed to be indicative of the fact that the characters were high? I am somewhat glad that I finished the book as the ending was really interesting, although I didn’t think that all of the end were tied up. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Told through multiple POVs, each character in this story become supremely unlikeable but still compelling. That Night in the Library is a fun book, if a little slow at times.

I enjoyed Eva Jurczyk's previous novel and was eager to read this next one, but I was not engaged by the plot at all.. Two early references to old books with green covers made the plot point very clear to librarians, for one. Second, the storytelling was slow with a Lord of the Flies vibe, The characters did not interest me.

A Very modern 'Whodunit': 'That Night in the Library' by Eva Jurczyk

I’m always a bit of a sucker when I see a book about libraries or even with the word library in the title. And I enjoy a good ‘whodunit’ and crime novels.

So of course I had to read this one, by Polish born Canadian writer Eva Jurczyk.

Set in the rare book library of a university, the cast of characters are seven students who gather for a night of (unspecified) ritual and drugs on the night before their graduation. Some of the seven know each other, having studied or worked together, others are almost strangers.

Why these seven?

They’ve been hand-picked by the event organiser, Davey, keen to try out a ritual from the ancient Greeks said to banish the fear of death. As these youngsters are on the cusp of their real adult lives and unknown futures, it seems as good a time as any to try something new.

But within minutes of dropping the acid tabs, one of them drops dead – seemingly poisoned. And then the lights go out, plunging their basement venue into darkness.

Fear and suspicion immediately overtake the six survivors, each of whom has their own insecurities and problems or preoccupations.

As with any good whodunit, the death toll climbs, and so does their paranoia.

That Night in the Library is a little like a cross between Lord of the Flies and Cluedo, with a very modern take on the ‘locked room’ mystery trope. It’s both fun and compelling as the possible murderer and their motive keeps shifting.

I didn’t completely buy the resolution, however I was very happy to suspend my judgement in order to enjoy a fast-paced mystery with believable young characters. And as always, I did love the library setting.

That Night in the Library is published by Sourcebooks/ Poisoned Pen Press in June 2024.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.