“A Step Past Darkness”

By Vera Kurian

 

Vera Kurian’s first novel “Never Saw Me Coming” was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 2022. Her follow up is even better with surprising twists which include a horror element, a dangerous cult, and a group of students who find out that secrets cannot always be kept.

 

The gripping danger stems from an incident in 1995 in a lovely, suburban town when a group of high school students decide to throw a party in an abandoned coal mine. Obviously, nothing can possibly go wrong with that idea!  But since humans seem to be very good at making terrible decisions, the party goes on and disaster ensues for six classmates who witness a shocking event that they keep secret for 20 years. They go so far as to agree to never speak of the crime that happened and to leave town and never speak to each other.

The six are Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch; Kelly, the bookworm next door; James, a cynical burnout; Casey, a loveable football player; Padma, the shy straight-A student and Jia, who is starting to see visions she can’t explain. While 20 years have passed, Jia’s visions and the murder of Maddy drives Jia to break the pact by calling everyone originally involved back to Wesley Falls to end what is beginning to tear the town apart.

Much of the novel deals with the group of six teens. They are all well-developed characters and interact to each other in positive ways. Events from the 90s come up to orientate us to the time which this was taking place. Eventually they find that many of the town’s problems seem to swirl around the town’s megachurch called “Golden Praise.” The church has a dangerous cult-like hold on the citizens to the point that the church’s leaders are those townspeople with the most influence. Others in town who are not in the church are called burnouts. The elite high school girls are called the “Circle Girls” and wear necklaces with small gems that relate to a church hierarchy that Jia and her friends must uncover.

Many modern novels jump back and forth between characters and this novel does that with all six of its main characters as we get to know them as teens in the 90s. That takes up a lot of time and thus it takes a while to really jump into what is going on in the town itself. Once everyone is back in Wesley Falls, the novel jumps into high gear and becomes a top rate thriller. I love the idea of a coal mine being a major setting since I can really imagine that kids in the town would be intrigued with exploring something that they are told to stay away from. The social interactions of the residents of the town are of importance and controlled by the church’s influence. The book has many twists and turns and surprises. Just read it and don’t read the many reviews that I feel give away far too much. Just read this triller and enjoy the ride.