Simone St. James has built a novel, brick by brick, that is rich in detail, thoughtful in depictions, and creative in plot. This is a writer who knows her business. A BOX FULL OF DARKNESS will stick with you for a long time.
You know how old houses hold onto things. Not just dust in the corners or the smell of old wood. Memories. They soak them up like spilled water. That’s Fell, NY for you. A place where the past isn’t past at all, it’s just waiting in the front yard. Asking you to come home.
Simone St. James gets that. She always does. In A Box Full of Darkness she’s built another one, a house of a story you step into. And the air is thick with what happened to Ben Esmie. Eighteen years gone. A six-year-old boy vanishes on his siblings’ watch. Just poof. No body, no closure. Only a life sentence of guilt served three different ways.
Violet sees the dead. Vail looks for aliens. Dodie, a hand model in New York, seems fine. Not fine, though. Never fine. You don’t get to be fine.
A Box Full of Darkness Review: A Supernatural Cold Case Thriller by Simone St. James
A Horror Book Review by Debra K. Every
In A BOX FULL OF DARKNESS Simone St James, does what she does best. She has written an eerie, atmospheric novel that is part mystery, part crime thriller, and part horror. It centers around an unsolved disappearance that has haunted the Esmie siblings for nearly two decades.
Violet, Vail, and Dodie Esmie struggle with a shared tragedy. Eighteen years ago, when they were young, their six-year-old brother, Ben disappeared while in their care. Police were called in. Searches were mobilized. An investigation was conducted. After everything that could have been done, was done, there was no sign of Ben. Not even a body.
Ben was the golden child, loved and pampered by his older sisters and brother. They played with him, cared for him. Their parents, however, were mysteriously absent, leaving the caring of Ben to their three older children.
The years weren’t kind to the Esmie siblings. Each carry the guilt of Ben’s disappearance in their own way. Violet, eldest of the clan, cleans the houses of people who have died. She also sees dead people, which landed her in a mental institution when she was young. Her brother Vail investigates alien sightings. Dodie, the youngest, seems fine—she’s a hand model in New York. But she has told no one about the nightmares that haunt her.
The Esmies reunite when the caretaker of their childhood home in Fell, NY refuses to go to the house. There have been mysterious sightings of a boy standing in the front yard saying, “Come home.” So begins a renewed investigation of what happened to Ben Esmie.
Simone St. James has written a slow build, character driven story that leans heavily on relationships in a dysfunctional family. There are alternating POVs from each Esmie sibling which goes a long way in keeping the narrative fresh. Horror fans may grow impatient with the first half of the book. I did not. St. James is happy to spend time establishing the complex relationships and backstories of her characters, which pays big dividends at the end. She is a master at avoiding cliches while crafting prose that is endlessly creative and evocative.
Each character has a distinctive voice. The dialogue is filled with jibes and snarky comments that are in perfect keeping with sibling dynamics. The house itself contributes to the building tension. Toys appear in random places. Messages are delivered. Dreams are amplified. There is a one-hundred-year-old mystery in the mix as well as a nasty character named, Sister. And then, there’s Fell, NY – a place where “childhood terrors had a taste and a smell”. Neighbors mysteriously leave. Children die suddenly.
All these elements: the characters’ backstories, the house, the town; they all contribute to a novel crafted with a tremendous attention to pacing and vivid storytelling. There is, however, one very large loose end that I feel should have been addressed. In the interest of spoilers, I’ll leave it at that.
Simone St. James has built a novel, brick by brick, that is rich in detail, thoughtful in depictions, and creative in plot. This is a writer who knows her business. A BOX FULL OF DARKNESS will stick with you for a long time.
A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases, the new pulse-pounding standalone story about the childhood traumas that haunt each of us . . .
“As creepy and unsettling as a rain-faded wreath and teddy bear found by the side of the road to mark a missing person, [it] lingers like a ghost long after it’s finished.”―Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House
—
Something dark has always hung over the Esmie siblings.
Each one is haunted, but all in different ways.
Violet dreams each night of a strange and cold woman looming over her bed, Dodie wakes in a constant state of drowning and Vale sees beaming lights and probing figures.
But there’s one thing that haunts them the most . . .
The disappearance of their little brother, Ben, who went missing during an innocent game of hide and seek back when they were children.
It’s been eighteen years since the siblings fled their childhood home, Fell House, the one that holds all the ghosts of the past.
But then Violet receives a call from the house’s caretaker. He’s too scared to keep working there. He says he saw the spirit of a young boy whispering two words . . .
Come home.
She, Dodie and Vale all know Ben is back – and he’s ready to lead them to answers they both want and fear.
But there’s a more sinister presence waiting for them at Fell House. Something that’s connected to their visions as children.
Something that wants a violent revenge.
—
PRAISE FOR SIMONE ST JAMES’ WORK:
“Once again, St. James has offered a gripping tale of crime tinged with the supernatural that crosses generations.” – Booklist
“From its terrifying opening to its jaw-dropping conclusion, this thriller has it all–small town secrets, ominous dark deeds after midnight. You will follow this shocking road to its climatic end!” ―Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Still See You Everywhere
“An exhilarating, haunting ride from start to finish.”―Isabel Cañas, USA Today bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte
“Simone St. James is known for brilliantly mixing thriller elements with supernatural mayhem” ―The New York Times Book Review
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