Your Lonely Nights Are Over

Two gay besties are framed for the murders of fellow queer students in this audacious thriller by Sass (The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers). Arizona Stone Grove High School senior Frankie Dearie, who cues as white, feels as if he’s the only student at school not obsessed with his classmates’ latest true crime docuseries binge-watch about Mr. Sandman, a still-on-the-lam serial killer from the 1970s. The obsession has even ensnared his jock best friend Cole Cardoso, who is Latine. But discussion surrounding the show stops feeling lighthearted when Dearie and Cole are accused of sending Queer Club members texts that mimic Mr. Sandman’s calling card. The pair are determined to prove that the messages are a joke from someone who’s trying to set them up, but their pursuit is derailed when they stumble upon two Queer Club students garroted in the killer’s style. And as the body count grows, so too does evidence pointing to the friends as the culprits. Dearie and Cole’s steadfast devotion to each other provides a grounding backbone to the hair-raising chills. In this enthusiastic homage to queer youth and friendship, Sass embraces quintessential campy slasher tropes and persuasively blends snarky humor with suspenseful horror. Ages 14–up. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary. (Sept.)