Starred review from September 9, 2024
Though 17-year-old Dia enjoys working at her family’s antiques shop, she worries that her life is going nowhere and yearns for more. Then she sees an ad from the Louisiana Veda Foundation, founded in honor of the 39-years-dead eccentric genius of the same name, creator of the complicated board games—now collector’s items—known as a Darkly. The foundation is seeking seven teens for an unusual summer internship, for which Dia applies and is accepted. The interns are taken to a small North Sea Island off the coast of England, where they find their job to be much different—and far more deadly—than advertised. But with a life-changing cash prize on the line for each of them, Dia and her fellow interns refuse to back down. Twists and connections are satisfying and surprising in this high-stakes thriller by Pessl (Neverworld Wake), who takes familiar YA tropes and turns them on their head using confident prose. Fearless and whip-smart Dia, as well as the rest of the intersectionally diverse cast, will have readers cheering them on from page one. Assorted letters, news stories, and other ephemera depicting the events add visual interest throughout. Ages 12–up.