Author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.
Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.
One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks—and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.
Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio's inimitable style.
Title : Graveyard Shift
Author : M. L. Rio
Format : ARC
Page Count : 144
Genre : contemporary / mystery
Publisher : Flatiron Books
Release Date : September 24, 2024
Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★
Hollis' 2 star review
I'm not a hundred percent sure how to feel or what to take from this one. But first of all if you're expecting horror -- which I absolutely was -- you should immediately adjust thy expectations. There's nothing scary about this. A little weird? With a side of unethical science? Absolutely. But scary, no. And I wanted those vibes. I expected those vibes, particularly with the opening the scene in a cemetery, but no. There's maybe one moment that might wig out the more squeamish of readers but otherwise, nada.
In fact, this is more of a vignette or maybe even a (bare bones) character study because, as it is a novella, we don't get into very much and there's actually a lot that we could've explored; both in the events and science as well as the characters and their dynamics. I definitely would've enjoyed a We Were Villains-style length with this ensemble but, alas, unlike the mix-up with the genre, there was certainly no mistaking the page count.
Graveyard Shift is basically a Scooby Doo mystery on speed (it takes place over the course of like six hours or less) with a vague flavouring of The Last of Us or What Moves The Dead -- which, worth noting, has a very similar cover and which I also didn't like. The story, I mean. I love both covers.
While this kicked off with both the vibes I wanted as well as something mysterious, it rather quickly fell flat and turned into something without any real tension and with an ending that.. well, you'll see. However, I do think this will find it's audience and fans of the aforementioned Kingfisher will probably enjoy it much more than I did.
** I received an ARC from the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
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