Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

Summary:
Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her five best friends were the cool kids, the beautiful ones. Then the shocking death of Jim-their creative genius and Beatrice’s boyfriend-changed everything.
One year after graduation, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft-the seaside estate where they spent so many nights sharing their secrets, crushes, plans to change the world-hoping she’ll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at her about Jim’s death. She suspects that her friends know much more than they ever let on.
But as the night plays out in a haze of awkward jokes and unfathomable silence, Beatrice senses she’s never going to know what really happened.
Then night fades to morning, a thunderstorm rages, and a mysterious man knocks on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions.
Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers…and at life. And so begins the Neverworld Wake.
Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Night Film and Special Topics in Calamity Physics Marissa Pessl creates a vivid and unsettling realm in this atmospheric and absorbing psychological suspense novel sure to keep readers breathless until the riveting conclusion.
Review:
I went into Neverworld Wake expecting a mystery/thriller that would satisfy my desire for a spooky Halloween read on the last day of Spooktober.
I was rewarded with so much more. This story was complex and creative, involved and intricate, intense and entertaining. I’ve heard some good things about this book, but it surpassed all of my expectations for sure.
I totally thought I had guessed the ending. I was two-thirds of my way through and I was certain I knew what the ending looked like. Oh, boy was I wrong. It was unpredictable and funny. Mysterious and interesting. I loved the Groundhog Day esq. vibe. I think it was a really interesting idea that was done well.
I liked the characters. Some of them were a little shitty personality-wise, but I think that made them more real. People are shitty right? I liked that though this friend group was currently fractured and has been for a while, we got to see bits and pieces of how they used to function together in the past before their friend died.
Neverworld Wake takes place in Rhode Island! Which, for those who don’t know is part of the US called ‘New England’ and I was super excited to read this because that’s where I grew up, which is about an hour or two away from the different places in this book. I loved reading about a few different places that I’d been to before. I always enjoy books set in areas I’m familiar with.
I totally forgot to make sure to save where I liked certain quotes and parts because I was way too into the story and just needed to finish. But Neverworld Wake was full of excellent quotes and little insightful tidbits about death and the human condition. This will for sure be another favorite of mine for 2018 and I recommend it to everyone!

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

*Want to buy this book? Just click the image of the book cover! As Amazon Affiliates we will get a percentage of any purchase, feel free to support us.