The Deep Dark

By: Molly Knox Ostertag

Narrated by: Eva Reign, Elena Rey, Annette Amelia Oliveira, full cast

Everyone has secrets. Mags's has teeth.

Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there's her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out—like it did once before.

So Mags keeps her head down, isolated in her small desert community. That is, until her childhood friend Nessa comes back to town, bringing vivid memories of the past, an intoxicating glimpse of the future, and a secret of her own. Mags won't get attached, of course. She's always been strong enough to survive without anyone's help.

But when the darkness starts to close in on them both, Mags will have to drag her secret into the daylight, and choose between risking everything... or having nothing left to lose.

©2024 Molly Knox Ostertag (P)2024 Scholastic Inc.

Very bizarre and horror-adjacent

I loved the effects of the audiobook but sometimes it was hard to follow what was happening. Very bizarre and horror-adjacent YA story. I know I’m not the target audience and I’m sure there are some that will enjoy the edgy feel of the characters.