BookBrowse Reviews The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee

BookBrowse:

Though it tells rather than shows a little too often, The Dark We Know is a solid, finely observed young adult horror yarn.

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Written by Wen-yi Lee, The Dark We Know comes to us from Gillian Flynn Books, so it seems appropriate that there's more than a hint of Flynn's own Camille Preaker in Lee's troubled protagonist, Isadora Chang — and, for that matter, more than a hint of Sharp Objects' ruminations on trauma and repression in small-town America in this narrative. Isadora returns from art school to Slater, the mining town where she grew up, to attend the funeral of her abusive father, and it's immediately clear that she doesn't relish this homecoming: as soon as she steps out of the car, she refers to "Slater winter smothering me like a friend," a nice bit of description that says a lot about how she feels about Slater and even more about how she feels about friends.

In fact, two of her childhood friends are no longer living, and after her alienated upbringing in this dead-end place, Isa is in no mood to get close to anybody, least of all here. But the plot has other ideas, and soon she is approached by Mason Kane, son of the local medium and her last remaining friend. There's something out there, says Mason, that killed the others and recently claimed the life of wealthy young Paige Vandersteen — and Isa needs to help stop it. But what, exactly, is it? Could it be the same presence that sings enticing songs to her in the wind? That makes her draw pictures she can't remember creating, one of which is of the departed Paige?

There is no shortage of narratives about trauma these days — especially horror narratives — and the broad strokes of this story may seem a bit familiar at first glance. And sometimes Lee bluntly states something that could have been made richer with imagery ("for most of our childhood, the four of us were inseparable") or gives her characters on-the-nose dialogue ("I can't afford to be not normal"). What she excels at, though, is something just as important: the well-chosen detail. The absence of a Bible on the mantelpiece represents how the house breathes easier without a malignant father. A lingering scent suggests his influence hasn't gone away as quickly as Isa, her mother, and her sister hoped it would.

Nothing goes away as quickly as any of the characters hope in this book. Just as nothing seems to change in Slater — still run by one wealthy family with its own demons to fight, still insular and hushed and secretive — there seems to be no rest for Isa or Mason or anybody else until the past is confronted in one form or another. I can't spoil the mystery of exactly what form this takes, but suffice it to say, it makes for a satisfying conclusion.

The Sharp Objects comparison may do The Dark We Know a disservice. It's a very different story: explicitly supernatural, geared towards younger audiences, and considerably less venomous. It is, in any case, exactly what it aims to be: Lee sets her sights squarely on the target, and hits it.

This review first ran in the September 4, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.