Night’s Edge

Vampires are given a brutal yet refreshing update in this addictive outing from Kerin (The Phantom Forest) that’s equal parts horror thriller and bildungsroman. The narration jumps between past and present: in 2010, fifth grader Mia’s mother, Izzy, catches a vampiric condition from her emotionally manipulative boyfriend, Devon. Forced into a caregiving role, Mia learns the ins and outs of her mother’s condition and that keeping it quiet means keeping others at arm’s length. In the present, 20-something Mia dreams of escaping their codependent dynamic and beginning a relationship with a beautiful barista named Jade—until Devon reappears and threatens to destroy the fragile life Mia’s spent more than a decade building. Kerin’s prose is razor-sharp, and the fraught mother-daughter relationship at the heart of the novel is devastatingly rendered. It’s a fast-paced story with rich, complex characters, making the cliffhanger ending especially frustrating—but only because readers will be desperate to see how all the blood comes out in the wash. Vampire fans looking for a fresh take on the monsters should snap this up. (June.)