I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – 10/10

Price – £8.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook

When a summer storm sweeps through a sleepy town unleashing a monstrous and otherworldy power that threatens to break reality, Olivia will stop at nothing to find her best friend and get them to safety.

Mona Awad’s Bunny meets Stranger Things in this mind-bending and terrifying examination of female friendship and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love, from the Bram Stoker award winning author of Queen of Teeth

Three years after running away from home, Olivia is stuck with a dead-end job in nowhere town Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania. At least she has her best friend, Sunflower.

Olivia figures she’ll die in Chapel Hill, if not from boredom, then the summer night storm which crashes into town with a mind-bending monster in tow.

If Olivia’s going to escape Chapel Hill and someday reconcile with her parents, she’ll need to dodge residents enslaved by the storm’s otherworldly powers and find Sunflower.

But as the night strains friendships and reality itself, Olivia suspects the storm, and its monster, may have its eyes on Sunflower and everything she loves.

Including Olivia.

Any stories are about finding yourself. Very often discovering our inner hero; sometimes that you’re the villain or the victim (this happens a lot more in horror for obvious reasons). We watch characters fight their pre-conceptions or those of others and make a stand. In Hailey Piper’s exhilarating and surprising novel, A Light Most Hateful a character’s search for their inner self creates one of the most exciting reads of the year.

Eighteen-year-old Olivia arrives for her dead-end job running the concessions stand at the drive-in for the young folk of Chapel Hill. Who may be more interested in their partners than the classic movie to be shown. Olivia tries to keep focused on the role despite the usual teasing and insults thrown her way and that her best friend (and secret crush Sunshine) is late and may be distracted by her boyfriend. But a storm is rushing to Chapel Hill. The town is about to be wracked by monsters, rampaged by its own townsfolk and Olivia will have to decide who she is to take her own stand against the town’s destruction.

Now this is a reallllly difficult story to discuss. So how about this to capture the feeling of reading this. You see the classic ghost train ride; the rickety carriage to sit in; the usual spooky noises and music. You sit in it. The ride starts moving and then the carriage drops 90 degrees into the ground, and you’re propelled into a neon lit super slick and fast turning rollercoaster that you have no idea where it is heading. This story has initially a very classic almost 1950s feel to it with the drive-in; a put upon concession worker; high schoolers in jackets and their girlfriends and even an enigmatic rebel with no cause in the form of the chain-smoking character who calls themselves Christmas. And yet Olvia is gay and in love with her best friend, Christmas is non-binary and underneath Chapel Hill has many less than pleasant secrets to unlock. Just when you think though this is going more in a twin peaks direction though Piper adds in a strange storm and a compelling monster you don’t see coming at all.

At this point the story races and keeps the reader constantly on their toes. Everything shifts and changes and then changes further. We feel Olvia’s bewilderment at all these changes. Her struggle to survive and her heroic desire to find Sunshine the one person who really understands Olvia and whom Olvia wishes she could tell her the truth. But this story is also about having to accept that our friends are sometimes not the idols we think they are and that can be equally distressing to experience, and we then must decide who we are – are they still worth our saving them or do we need to focus on rescuing ourselves? How Piper explores this subject is truly novel and the almost jet-like propulsion ably distracts us from clues that when they finally slot into place change the story into its final emotionally packed half that means Olvia really must decide what she wants for herself.

It works beautifully tying up all its plotlines and is a wonderful example of storytelling keeping the reader on their toes and giving us something we don’t feel like we have seen before. Bittersweet, terrifying, empowering and often just plain scary this is a story that changes shapes and nimbly that suits the story too. Its not a linear story and those aspects may put off those who just like a traditional scare at this time of year but for me it’s a lot more interesting to go through a trapdoor and not know what is going to happen next and this tale delivers that in spades. Highly recommended! Can’t wait to hear what you think!