It’s summertime and the living is easy in the Hamptons, a tony seaside community on New York’s Long Island. But despite the area’s resplendent mansions and beautiful beaches, high schooler Gabriel Nieves is anything but excited he’ll be spending school break there. In fact, as Ann Dávila Cardinal’s supernatural horror novel You’ve Awoken Her opens, he’s wondering “How did this summer become pure and total suckage?”
The Hamptons are just a couple hours’ drive from his Queens, New York, home, but to self-described “skater-punk” Gabi, it’s a world away. Sure, he’ll be staying at his longtime best friend Ruth’s house: Her dad hit it “big, real big,” and her family moved from their Queens apartment into a house featured in Town & Country. But their friendship hasn’t been as close since she moved, and Gabi’s convinced he won’t fit into her fancy new lifestyle.
He tries to keep an open mind, but when he meets Ruth’s boyfriend, Frost Thurston, the arrogant scion of a wealthy local family, Gabi can’t shake the feeling that something is amiss. And when he sees a woman dragged into the water from the beach near Frost’s house by a “freaking giant octopus”? Well, he’s completely terrified. But despite this being the latest in a series of disappearances and deaths around the Hamptons over the last few years, the police seem strangely unconcerned.
Well aware that his hungry sea monster theory’s going to be a hard sell, Gabi is determined to convince Ruth her community is in danger, even if he risks losing her as a friend forever. Latino Book Award-winner and Bram Stoker Award finalist Dávila Cardinal amps up the suspense as Gabi joins local teen Georgina—who’s also open to the idea that something supernatural is behind the fatal chaos—in racing around town in search of answers. Can they figure things out before tragedy strikes again?
Dávila Cardinal blends shivery horror and sharp-eyed social commentary to satisfying effect in this empathetic, action-packed coming-of-age tale. You’ve Awoken Her is the perfect beach read for daring sorts who enjoy gothic Lovecraftian fiction along with their sunshine, sand and unknowably deep waters.