Into the Sublime Published by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) by Kate A. Boorman
on July 26, 2022
Genres: Adventure, Horror, Mystery, Thriller, YA
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Twitter, Goodreads
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
ISBN: 125019170X
Rating:
"Gripping and breathless, Into the Sublime is equal parts terrifying, claustrophobic, psychological, and cunning." —Wendy Heard, author of She's Too Pretty to Burn and Dead End GirlsA new YA psychological thriller from Kate A. Boorman, author of What We Buried, about four teenage girls who descend into a dangerous underground cave system in search of a lake of local legend, said to reveal your deepest fears
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When the cops arrive, only a few things are clear:- Four girls entered a dangerous cave.- Three of them came out alive.- Two of them were rushed to the hospital.- And one is soaked in blood and ready to talk.Amelie Desmarais' story begins believably enough: Four girls from a now-defunct thrill-seeking group planned an epic adventure to find a lake that Colorado locals call "The Sublime." Legend has it that the lake has the power to change things for those who risk—and survive—its cavernous depths. They each had their reasons for going. For Amelie, it was a promise kept to her beloved cousin, who recently suffered a tragic accident during one of the group’s dares.
But as her account unwinds, and the girls’ personalities and motives are drawn, things get complicated. Amelie is hardly the thrill-seeking type, and it appears she’s not the only one with the ability to deceive. Worse yet, Amelie is covered in someone's blood, but whose exactly? And where's the fourth girl?
Is Amelie spinning a tale to cover her guilt? Or was something inexplicable waiting for the girls down there? Amelie's the only one with answers, and she's insisting on an explanation that is more horror-fantasy than reality. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between?
After all, strange things inhabit dark places. And sometimes we bring the dark with us.
This review will be purposely short and sweet–and lacking too many details. Because this is a book that you have to go into not knowing much about.
From the first page, this book takes you on a psychological journey–not ever really knowing what’s going on. Told from alternating viewpoints–we get Amelie Desmarais’ perspective, as she and a group of girls make their way to the Sublime–and underground lake with sinister folklore surrounding it. The other side of the story is officers Vargas and Draker. And I won’t get into what they see.
The problem with a book like this and hearing from a main character’s perspective–in this case, Amelie’s–we don’t know whether we can trust her version of events or whether we can trust her. I spent much of the book not knowing who was what and what the heck was going on… And I LOVED that.
This book is part-horror, part-psychological thriller, part-cave horror. The latter, leaving the reader at times feeling claustrophobic and off-kilter.
There is much more than meets the eye to this one, and though I can see being targeted at a younger, teen audience, it was highly entertaining and intelligently fleshed out in its plot.
About Kate A. Boorman
Kate is a freelance writer and artist from the often-frozen Canadian prairies. She has a nice family and a well-indulged travel bug. She also has an irrational fear of birds, so when you visit, please leave your bird at home. But do visit.
