Clever Creatures Of The Night by Samantha Mabry
Where the wild things are
Several months after a volcano erupts in Central Texas, turning the Lone Star State’s sky a perma-pink and unsettling the native wildlife, Case travels to the rural house where her childhood best friend, Drea, has been holed up with a group of friends from her Austin boarding school ever since they were all displaced following the natural disaster.
Except when Case arrives at the house, Drea isn’t there. Even though she’d been expecting Case’s arrival. Even though she’d explicitly requested Case’s visit on this day and at this time.
Clearly something strange is afoot.
Instead, Case finds herself isolated with a bunch of people she’s never met before: Troy (the only boy and the self-appointed leader of this off-the-grid household since it’s his family who bought it as an investment property), Kendall (the ruthless matriarch of this odd little makeshift family), Abby (the only one with access to a car), and Steph (Kendall’s younger sister).
Drea’s housemates allow Case (with varying degrees of friendliness) to await Drea’s probable/possible/potential return. But they are all acting incredibly suspicious, and none are at all forthcoming regarding the mystery of Drea’s apparent disappearance.
Naturally, Case starts poking around trying to figure out what could possibly have happened to her friend. As she gradually uncovers various clues — often from fragments of Drea’s journal which have been hidden across the property — the narrative shifts gears several times as a variety of alternative explanations emerge and are dispelled.
Meanwhile, Case’s own safety grows increasingly precarious.
Is there, perhaps, something supernatural about these suspect housemates? Are they victims of others that lurk nearby but remain hidden during daylight? Or are they themselves murderers and responsible for Drea’s inexplicable disappearance?
One thing is certainly clear, this house is full of secrets and Drea’s housemates most definitely know something they’re not telling… But what?
Ostensibly a Young Adult novel, Clever Creatures of the Night never feels that it was written exclusively for that audience, and while it certainly satisfies readers attracted by the horror tag, some may argue its blend of genres lands more heavily in the realm of mystery than thriller.
That may be true, but it says a lot that the atmospheric sense of foreboding that runs throughout the book, coupled with the wide-open question of what happened to Drea, constantly threatens that Case’s story could turn from bad to outright horror at any given moment.
The askew reality that this story takes place in also enhances this perpetual sense of dread and serves to imply that the world as a whole is still off-kilter, no matter how insistent certain elements are that life goes on just the same as it ever did; running to the gas station for a sack of ice even as the literal sky is falling.
Clever Creatures of the Night is a breezy yet captivating page-turner which can be devoured quickly, as should be suit a novel which takes place over a claustrophobic 24-hour period. The condensed timeframe of the story is not restrictive, however, as there are frequent lapses into memories and other tangents as Case re-reads letters Drea had sent her, discovers hidden pages ripped from her journal, or simply reminisces on their shared history. As a device, it works well to provide additional depth and scope to the central characters and their story.
Atmospheric, foreboding, and patiently racking up the tension, I found Clever Creatures of the Night to be a highly engaging and enjoyable read.
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