A Box Full of Darkness
“From the book’s chillingly creepy setting, which previously appeared in The Sun Down Motel (2020), to a nerve-jangling plot that effectively borrows from a mix of genres to the writing itself, which shimmers with a dazzlingly sharp sense of wit, everything about St. James’ latest is done to perfection.”-Booklist (starred review)
Simone St. James, the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel, returns with her scariest, most shocking novel yet in this pulse-pounding story about siblings who return to the house they fled 18 years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his haunting request: Come home.
Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to ten while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother—he was gone and the ongoing search efforts turned up no clues.
As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail, and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years.
And now after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming. Because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared. If the ghosts of Fell don’t get to them first.
A Box Full of Darkness is another propulsive thriller from the author of The Broken Girls and The Book of Cold Cases, a surprising horror story from a writer who is “particularly gifted at doling out twists” (The New York Times).
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Community Reviews
Simone St. James never disappoints. She always scares the bejeebers out of me, but the stories go so much deeper. This novel has everything. Dysfunctional family (understatement), possession (can you say all encompassing?), massive mystery, ghosts aplenty, a compelling narrative, and that ending made me smile all the way through. More please!
Well, Simone St James has done it again. She’s created another creepy, scary, ghost story with a really dark vibe and malevolent spirit. As if that wasn’t weird enough, it’s even in the same small town (Fell, NY) as her Sun Down Motel story, another great St James story that I highly recommend.
As the book summary states, sisters Violet and Dodie and brother Vail return to the house where their little brother Ben disappeared 18yrs ago during a game of hide and seek; he or his body was never found. What the book doesn’t mention is what the siblings have been doing since they left. Violet ended up in a mental institution because of the dead people/ghosts that she sees. Subsequently, her husband divorces her and takes custody of their daughter, Lisette. Now, she cleans out houses after people die. Vail becomes a ufologist for an organization called VUFO. Until he returned home, he was convinced that aliens had abducted Ben. Then there is Dodie, who is a NY product model where she never shows her face, and she prefers it that way; she also never does second dates - ever. Suffice it to say that the siblings are not very mentally/emotionally/psychologically balanced individuals.
Most of the story flips back and forth between the siblings after they return home and start to investigate Ben’s disappearance. Then Vail invites an associate, that he’s worked with before on alien investigations, come and “read” the house. This reveals some confusing information that has them questioning what they actually know and remember about Ben and their childhoods with their parents and the house. During their research into Ben and their childhoods with their parents and the house, they come across a collection of really strange info that leads them to a very disturbing conclusion.
I’m not going to say much more about the storyline because that would be a spoiler, but I will say that the siblings were warned (by the ghost of Violet’s dead friend that she’s seeing since returning home) that “while three of them walked into the house, only two would walk out”. The ending was really frightening and intense and had me on edge and fearing which sibling wouldn’t be walking out.
The character development of the siblings and Ben was well done. The pacing was steady to fast and never dragged and had me engrossed from the get-go. The storyline was very interesting, but then, I’m a big fan of creepy ghost stories. The writing was outrageous and classic St James. This is the part where I feel compelled to mention that if you are the kind of reader whose enjoyment of a story is contingent on the story’s level of believability, then this is not the story for you because this is a wild and crazy ghost story folks – definitely my kind of story. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.4 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. For me, the wilder and crazier, the better. I also want to mention that on the Donne horror scale of 1-5, five being horror-filled, I would rate this a 2.5.
As the book summary states, sisters Violet and Dodie and brother Vail return to the house where their little brother Ben disappeared 18yrs ago during a game of hide and seek; he or his body was never found. What the book doesn’t mention is what the siblings have been doing since they left. Violet ended up in a mental institution because of the dead people/ghosts that she sees. Subsequently, her husband divorces her and takes custody of their daughter, Lisette. Now, she cleans out houses after people die. Vail becomes a ufologist for an organization called VUFO. Until he returned home, he was convinced that aliens had abducted Ben. Then there is Dodie, who is a NY product model where she never shows her face, and she prefers it that way; she also never does second dates - ever. Suffice it to say that the siblings are not very mentally/emotionally/psychologically balanced individuals.
Most of the story flips back and forth between the siblings after they return home and start to investigate Ben’s disappearance. Then Vail invites an associate, that he’s worked with before on alien investigations, come and “read” the house. This reveals some confusing information that has them questioning what they actually know and remember about Ben and their childhoods with their parents and the house. During their research into Ben and their childhoods with their parents and the house, they come across a collection of really strange info that leads them to a very disturbing conclusion.
I’m not going to say much more about the storyline because that would be a spoiler, but I will say that the siblings were warned (by the ghost of Violet’s dead friend that she’s seeing since returning home) that “while three of them walked into the house, only two would walk out”. The ending was really frightening and intense and had me on edge and fearing which sibling wouldn’t be walking out.
The character development of the siblings and Ben was well done. The pacing was steady to fast and never dragged and had me engrossed from the get-go. The storyline was very interesting, but then, I’m a big fan of creepy ghost stories. The writing was outrageous and classic St James. This is the part where I feel compelled to mention that if you are the kind of reader whose enjoyment of a story is contingent on the story’s level of believability, then this is not the story for you because this is a wild and crazy ghost story folks – definitely my kind of story. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.4 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review. For me, the wilder and crazier, the better. I also want to mention that on the Donne horror scale of 1-5, five being horror-filled, I would rate this a 2.5.
This is the first book of this author that I have read. Strange and confusing for me. The Esme Siblings, Dodie, Violet and Vail try to solve the mystery of their little brother Ben, who went missing years ago in their childhood town of Fell. Each of them can see and communicate with ghosts. I guess this is a horror story as well as a mystery.