Title: The Night We Burned
Author: S.F. Kosa
Publication: August 10, 2021
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 336
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
A new psychological thriller from suspense powerhouse S.F. Kosa featuring a decades-old secret, a mysterious cult fire, and a woman looking to outrun the ashes of her past…until they come roaring back once more.
Dora is always aware of the line between fact and fiction. As a fact checker at an online magazine, her job depends on it. And as a woman outrunning her secrets, so does her life. But when a murder crops up in her old town, one linked to a deadly fire at a cult compound twenty years prior, suddenly all of Dora’s carefully spun deceptions are at risk.
Because she’s seen a murder like this before. She knows what the police missed.
And if she doesn’t stop the story, she may be next.
As Dora follows the journalist, altering facts to hide her identity along the way, she’s thrown back into a world she tried desperately to leave behind. One of ritual and belonging, of danger and darkness. A world where two girls promised to help each other through…until it all went up in flames.
And Dora knows, she won’t be lucky enough to escape twice.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**
I have never read a book by S.F. Kosa before, but I am now a hardcore fan. The description sounded incredibly appealing and she did not disappoint in the slightest.
The book follows Dora as she works as a copy editor for an online magazine. As one of her coworkers catches on a trail for a big story in Bend, Oregon regarding an old cult that now has remaining members dying in suspicious manners, Dora knows she has to slow the research or her entire past will spill out. This story is crazy. I don’t know how else to describe it. Cults freak me out and make me anxious. I do not personally understand how people fall into them, and reading about one makes me anxious, which tells me Kosa did it justice. Dora’s character was just looking for someone to love her and that is how they took advantage of her to drag her in. That is very common for cults, praying on the weak. There are a lot of side characters in this story, all of which are interesting and twisted. Darius, Eszter, Parvaneh, Gil, Octavia, and more. Then you have Miles, Noah, Arman, Hailey, and the list goes on. Each one of these characters were developed just enough to let myself, as a reader, develop them the rest of the way. I love when I am able to build on a character in my head.
I had strong emotions about many of the side characters. Kosa drew a lot of emotions out of me while reading this book. It was angry, anxious, nervous, sad, worried, and so many more. The story also jumped between current time and the past and slowly pieced the puzzle together. It flowed really nice.
The best part of this is I did not call the ending. I had some suspicions, and while a few were close, I did not nail them as I usually do. This book had so many twists and turns that I had no idea who to believe, what was happening, or who knew what at any given time. A true suspense novel with a mountain of thrills along the way.
If you love thrillers, this is a book for you. It had everything a good thriller is suppose to have. Mystery, Suspense, and lots of twists and turns. Oh, and a cult-y spin. You will not be disappointed for the read.
STAR RATING: 5/5
Pick up your copy of The Night We Burned by S.F. Kosa on August 10 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or check your local bookstore. Make sure to add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave feedback for the author when you are finished. Check out more from S.F. Kosa on her website HERE.
