Dagger Hill
Devon Taylor
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: August 17th 2021
Genres: Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult
Stranger Things meets One of Us Is Lying in this creepy paranormal mystery about four friends who find themselves hunted by a malevolent presence in their sleepy hometown.
It knows your fear…
Summer, 1989. Four best friends—Gabe, Kimberly, Charlie, and Sonya—are preparing for their last summer together before senior year, after which they’ll all be splitting up to start college in different parts of the country. They make a promise to always find their way back to each other, no matter how far away from their sleepy Pennsylvania hometown they get.
But their plans are destroyed when a plane crashes right on top of their favorite hangout outside of town—and right on top of them.
In the catastrophic aftermath of the incident, Gabe, Sonya and Charlie are plagued by eerie visions and messages from an unknown watcher. They soon realize that the plane crash was no accident, and now they are being hunted by a sinister presence. And everyone is still searching for Kimberly, who has been missing ever since Gabe saw somebody wearing a gas mask carry her out of the woods the day the sky fell down on them…
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Not much happens in the town of Windale, Pennsylvania, 1989. There are farms and the scientific agency TerraCorp. Four friends, Charlie, Gabe, Sonya and Kimberly are trying to savor their last summer together before senior year. As they picnic together on their favorite hangout spot, Dagger Hill, a plane that has taken off from TerraCorp crashes into the hill. They saw the pilot parachute out before the crash, but something else was in the plane and it took Kimberly with it. Something was unleashed on Dagger Hill that is affecting the residents of Windale. Gabe, Sonya and Charlie desperately try to find Kimberly and solve the mystery of Dagger Hill.
Dagger Hill is a young adult paranormal mystery that kept me guessing. Told from the alternating viewpoints of three of the teens, I was pulled into the suspense of the forces at play as well as having a great insight into Windale and the different views of the people who lived there. Each of the teens had a different background and economic situation and it was nice to see them have a meaningful relationship and truly care for each other. At times, the viewpoints overlapped and I felt like I was reading a bit of what I had just read. The setting of 1989 was not only nostalgic for me, but created a great atmosphere with emerging technology, but not a technologically savvy population. The mystery of Dagger Hill was well crafted as we learned little by little from different sources. The Bug Man kept me guessing as to what the force could be and its purpose, combined with the strange happenings at TerraCorp there was a perfect recipe for strange and malicious occurrences. I enjoyed watching Gabe, Charlie and Sonya band together to find Kimberly and figure out the purpose of the Bug Man. With an unexpected ending , Dagger Hill creates a perfect summer adventure.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Author Bio:
Devon Taylor was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters. His day job consists of sneaking around the house with ninja-like stealth to avoid waking up his kids. When not writing, reading, or tediously typing out text messages with all the correct spelling and punctuation, he spends his time with his family. THE SOUL KEEPERS is his debut novel.
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