Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano

Available now

CW: child death, grief

Picture this: You’re overcome with grief over the death of your child. You find a name mysteriously written on the floor of your child’s room. When you discover the name is actually that of a real island, you travel there and find something really, really strange. Time has stopped. People dress like it’s 1994. The cars are all pre-1994, there’s very little tech, cell phones aren’t allowed, the O.J. car chases is everywhere, and people seem very, very odd.

And then you go missing.

That’s Dead Eleven.

This is a weird, twisty tale with so many twists and turns that I really don’t want to spoil anything. This will be a quick, and hopefully, spoiler-free review!

It’s a strange, quirky novel that explores the complexities of grief, family dynamics, and how teenagers will always mess up a decades long cover-up. The characters were well written and interesting, even if a few felt like horror novel stereotypes. While a dark power taking over a small island isn’t exactly breaking new ground, I really liked the originality of how the residents tried to battle it and keep it contained. The mystery of Clifford Island was strong enough to keep my interested in the story and while the plot moved along pretty quickly, there were a few sections that felt repetitive and the ending seemed a bit rushed. Overall though, I really enjoyed it and found it to be a solid debut novel.

If you’d like to add this dark and compelling novel to your shelf, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information.

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