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.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my gifted copy.

I saw the negative reviews for this book, but I needed to read it for myself. I'm not sure where all the hate is coming from, because I enjoyed this one. Although predictable in the end, I found this one to be unputdownable.
I'm going to round up to 4⭐. It's thriller mixed with horror, and a sprinkle of dark humor. The book is 216 pages, and the pace was fast. For a locked room mystery, I thought this one was unique and a lot of fun.

Oh, I quite liked this. It took me by surprise and continually challenged my assumptions about the plot and the characters. I found it clever, well-paced, and deliciously dark. It's such a great blend of horror and thriller, and a little dark humour in there as well. This is a story I could picture being adapted for a movie. It had that vibe.

The author builds this up well with introducing each of the seven characters, all of which are different in personality and attitude. They were written well and believable. That buildup was compelling and had me on edge of the action to start. It's not a surprise for the first twist in the story, because it seemed fairly formulaic for the type of story, but each new twist was surprising and introduced more suspicion. In fact, bucket loads of suspicion. I didn't know who was going to turn out to be the culprit at end. This had me perplexed!

And the final twist. I loved it. So clever and so unexpected. It also seemed a bit tongue-in-cheek, but in a good way. It kind of felt like a reward by the end...maybe.

If I were to provide a negative, I would have enjoyed more detail on the ritual they were planning to do. It would have added to the dark atmosphere in the book.

All in all, this was pretty amazing, and I enjoyed the read. I had fun with the characters.

Link to video review to be added later.

That Night in the Library by Eva Jurczyk is about a group of college students who sneak into the basement of a rare books library just before graduation to perform a Greek ritual. Needless to say things go quite wrong and end up with several dead bodies.

Normally I enjoy locked room type books, but this one was off the mark for me. I felt like there was background and intro missing at the start of the story. I also didn’t love the idea of a ritual/sacrifice, and it was not explained so I was somewhat confused about it as well. I also found the end to be somewhat abrupt after all the buildup throughout the story.

I’m sure others may find this intriguing, but it just wasn’t for me!

I did enjoy this book it was a little hard keeping up with all the characters. I know there’s only 7 but it’s a lot of to keep up with especially in a locked door thriller. I loved the Greek mythology aspect of this book. This book did fall a little short in my opinion. I will say I’ll never visit a library after dark not that I ever did before lol

This book has a great premise but it didn’t flow very well for me. There are 7 POVs which are easy to follow but still felt disjointed. I didn't get sucked into the story like I thought I would. I did feel like the murder happened at a good point in the book though.

I did like the reading guide at the end to use with book clubs. I like that they explain their answers to the questions too. The writing is fine and the idea is an interesting one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I stopped reading this book about 12% into it and it was enough for me to know that this book wasn't for me. The description made it sound like such a great concept but I quickly realized that it was more of a dark academia book and I generally do not enjoy those. There were also quite a few characters that are introduced within a very short time and I have a hard time with that. The writing was very chopping because it bounced around from one character to another and the chapters were very short so there was hardly time to get settled with one character before you moved on to another character. Even though the story didn't really have time to develop it was mentioned several times that there would be a Greek ritual of some kind but because of the dark academia feel and the amount of characters in it I really wasn't interested in reading anymore.

[arc review]
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
That Night in the Library releases June 11, 2024

A group of 7 individuals, mainly comprised of graduate students and library assistants, come together to take part in a ritual in the basement of the William E. Woodend Rare Books Library, the night before graduation.
Of course to no one’s surprise, a murder or two ensues in this locked room mystery while everyone is high on acid.

The characters were weak, unconvincing, and their archetypes didn’t compliment each other which made the whole group interaction feel awkward and forced.
The ritual, which should have been at the forefront of this story, was practically nonexistent, and everything else that transpired ended up being highly contrived — the paper cutter beheading? LOL OKAY.

All around, this wasn’t a great read.
When both the characters and plot are lacking, it’s hard to find any points for redemption, though an ending with more closure or an epilogue with character reflection set months afterwards would have done wonders.

Unlike the raving reviews it received I found this book rather dull. Locked basement, dark and sinister, a small group of collegues gathering to enact an old myth, only to be disturbed within minutes.
I had no connection with these characters moving around in circles all night. Too slow. I kept hoping one of them would need a bathroom break or at least a bite to eat. Apparently not.
Psychological thriller, yes, but nothing had me on the edge of my seat. I did finish it, only to see who dunnit.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

It’s the night before graduation and college library worker Davey decides to host an after hours ancient ritual in the library basement amongst the rarest of books. Faye, a co-worker and physics major who doesn’t get invited to parties, joins the group; much of the story is told through her point of view.

The action in “That Night in the Library” begins when one of the party goes off by himself, then covered in blood, stumbles back to the main group huddled in the stacks. To the horror of the drug-addled group he drops dead and suspicions immediately rise. More bodies join the first. Who is killing off these college students and can that person be discovered before it’s too late?

I enjoy a good locked room mystery, but some of the action challenged my ability to suspend disbelief. While the characters were interesting and it was important to get some back story, I felt that the detail in the back story often served as a red herring. I loved the parts of the story that focused on conservation of rare books.

This book is great for those who enjoy locked room mysteries, ancient rituals gone wrong, and stories set on college campuses.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was not for me. I finished it only because I felt obligated to do so.

On the night before graduation, seven people gather in the basement of their university’s rare books library. They plan to perform a drug-infused ritual which will have participants “emerge unafraid of the horror of death.” Of course, a death occurs almost immediately. Since there is no one else in the place, one of them must be the murderer. They are effectively locked in together for the night with no contact with the outside world until the morning so tensions rise and panic ensues.

A major problem is that all the characters are easy to dislike. They are all self-absorbed and pretentious and just annoying. Because they are so unpleasant, I couldn’t connect with any of them. Though back stories are provided, I found it difficult to distinguish one character from another, and I didn’t care for any of them. I certainly didn’t care who might die next. Perhaps what is most unbelievable is that seven supposedly intelligent people would agree to gather with a group of virtual strangers for some bizarre ritual. Were the drugs the appeal? None of them seemed to have a fear of death so there seemed little motivation to attend. Then they act so irrationally and make such stupid decisions that even the effects of their taking acid don’t fully explain.

Interactions between characters feel contrived. One character accuses another of being a murderer but then ends by saying directly to the accused, “‘No offense’”?! Another character, when trying to determine the identity of a killer thinks, “There’s something about a person who wears glasses that makes them improbable as a villain”? One character dislikes strangers but agrees to spend a night with strangers?

A locked-room mystery lends itself to the creation of suspense, but that is not the case. Pacing is part of the problem. Some sections are very slow. And then there are the irrelevant tangents. The random story of the man who donated the money for the rare books library serves no purpose. The story of Demeter and Persephone, which inspires the ritual, is told twice?! Why would all workers in a library be forced to apply for a job even if they weren’t interested? And the reader is supposed to believe that the library doesn’t have smoke detectors or fire alarms linked to the fire department? The result is that the reader is anything but breathless with anticipation!

As I stated at the beginning, I often felt like abandoning the book. Rather than a thriller, it becomes more of a plotless, mindless horror requiring a great deal of suspension of disbelief. There is an interesting twist at the end, but there is so much drudgery to get to that ending. I can’t recommend this book. No offense.