In Nightfall by Suzanne Young is the vampire thriller you need

Since I picked up Girls with Sharp Knives a few years ago, I have been a big Suzanne Young fan. Girls fighting back against their abusers? Yes, please! So when I heard about her latest book, In Nightfall, I knew I wanted to read it. And wow, it did not disappoint.

The story follows Theo Maggione. Because she and her brother Marco had a party that may or may not have gotten out of control, their father is taking them to his hometown of Nightfall, Oregon. Theo much rather spend her summer with her friends, but with no other choice, she decides to make the best of it. At least she has her brother.

At first, that plan seems to be going well. A group of girls her age take her in and make her feel like one of them and Marco quickly becomes infatuated with one of the girls, Minnow. She also meets Parrish, a cute boy who seems to like her back.

The only problem is her weirdly suspicious grandmother who keeps putting smelly stick dolls in her clothes and has wolfsbane growing around her house.

In Nightfall features vampires, curses, and cool AF grandmothers

But as things start to get stranger, Theo starts to wonder if maybe Nonna knows something she doesn’t. One night at a bonfire, Theo swears she sees a dead arm in the sand. But the rest of the group laughs it off and when she goes back to look at it, it’s gone.

On top of that, her brother is acting super weird, her father is talking about moving permanently to Nightfall, and when she’s with the girls, she doesn’t fully feel like herself.

It takes a couple of podcasters, some research of her own, her Nonna’s knowledge, and some truly horrifying experiences for Theo to realize what is really going on in Nightfall and who her new “friends” really are. And let’s just say…way too many people in town have fangs!

In Nightfall may start off slow, but once it gets going, you can’t turn the pages fast enough. Theo is a reluctant vampire slayer but with the help of a few friends and her Nonna on her side, she’s ready to break the curse on Nightfall and get her family the hell out of the town that’s trying to kill them (or turn them).

The final action scenes are truly spectacular. They are fast-paced, thrilling, horrifying, and riveting.

I also loved the message behind why the town is the way it is and what the girls running the town were trying to achieve. Killing people and/or turning them into vampires wasn’t the best way to get to their goal, but I appreciated that they were stuck in the town almost as much as Theo was.

If you love anything to do with vampires and young adult thrillers or are a fan of Suzanne Young’s books, you need to check out In Nightfall.

It’s currently available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats.