Summer’s Edge by Dana Mele

Publication Date: May 31, 2022

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 352

Genre: YA Thriller

Trigger Warnings: This book contains murder, blood, references to (past) suicidal ideations and involuntary admission to a psychiatric hospital, trauma related to the death of a friend, a description of a dead animal (a rabbit), references to drowning, poisoning, fire, fear of sharks, and falling. (Thank you to the author for putting together this list on Goodreads.)

Rating: 5/5

Summer’s Edge is an incredibly fast paced and twisted YA thriller that has I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes meets The Haunting of Hill House. The book starts with our friend group coming together the summer after a devastating fire killed one of their best friends, Emily, at the lake house they visit every summer. They have each handled the loss in different ways and are coming together for the first time since Emily’s death to honor her memory. There are hidden betrayals and complex dynamics within the framework of these longtime best friends and this delicate balance is further damaged by strange events that have them questioning what exactly happened to Emily last summer.

Besides the compelling mystery of trying to figure out exactly what is happening in this story the constant drama and unfolding of secrets among the friend group kept me glued to this book. Paired along with the friends and the sinister things that keep happening is also the well done supernatural element of this story. This is such a well done gothic tale that takes the stories of three summers and flawlessly weaves them together for an explosive ending.

This book took me on a ride that I could never had predicated going in. The story seems to be steadily going in one direction and then suddenly we twisted in a different direction and I was completely and wonderfully confused. I don’t think I have ever had a WTF moment in a book and I love that Mele trusted themselves and the reader enough to pull the story in a such a wild direction. I also feel like once you go through some of the twists that the ending might be fairly obvious but I was so addicted to this story that I just kept flying through the pages and never came up for air long enough to actually think it all through. Which I’m thankful for since the ending was a surprise and I could just fully enjoy watching it all unfold.

Summer’s Edge is a book that demands to be read quickly. It has everything that is needed for the perfect summer read and has the gothic summer vibes that will hold you over until the spooky season.