The Afterdark

When 18-year-old Evie Laurent’s twin sister Ada slips off of a dock and drowns during an argument, Evie is secretly relieved to be free from her torment. Sent to the west coast of Canada to attend elite boarding school Northcroft in Ada’s place, Evie looks forward to a fresh start away from the memory of her manipulative and abusive twin. She’s excited to learn that one of her dorm mates is Holland Morgan, a famous child actress and Evie’s former crush. But even as romantic sparks fly upon their reunion, Evie is unnerved by the strange and sinister undertones of Northcroft: the sundown curfew, the automated blackout blinds, the masked and powerful secret society that runs the school, and the suspicious silence of her father, Principal Blackwood. As Evie investigates, she is forced to reconcile with her inexplicable attraction to the sinister forest surrounding the school and the darkness lurking within herself. While some characters are unevenly developed, Latimer (Escape to Witch City) capably explores violent urges and dangerous obsession in this dark and twisted thriller interspersed with intense and steamy moments of sapphic romance via Evie and Holland’s alternating first-person perspectives. Evie and Holland are white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Silvia Molteni, Peters Fraser + Dunlop. (Jan.)