"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" by April Genevieve Tucholke (360)

360 pages devoured in three days. This debut novel by April Genevieve Tucholke will take you by the throat with its fast pace and “darkly romantic” (Melissa Marr) adult gothic/horror story.  Seventeen-year-old Violet spends her days with her brother, Luke, and her best friend, Sunshine, wandering around the Citizen, the family mansion by the sea, worthy of a Fitzgerald novel in its heyday. However, with her grandparents dead and her parents abroad, the Citizen is slowly being retaken by the sea and their fortune is quickly dwindling, Violet spiraling down with it. Until a hot summer’s day when a boy named River West pulls up in his new-old car and confidently asks to stay in the unoccupied guest house. How could Violet say no when he walks with a panther-like gait and smiles crookedly? He makes omelets, paints in the shed, appreciates literature, and disappears for hours on end. When strange things begin happening – a murderer spotted in the abandoned train tunnel and kids running around the cemetery with stakes, claiming to have seen the devil right out of a Nathaniel Hawthorne story steal a girl – Violet can’t help but question River and his connections with all of the incidents. He has her trapped in all of his lies and half-truths, but her suspicion fades with every touch they share. Follow the characters to bonfires and films in the park, witness the murders and blood spilt, and realize that there may be more to River West…a devil lurking nearby.

Reviewed by Kay Scanlan

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