Six of Sorrow by Amanda Linsmeier (review)

Reviewed by: Six of Sorrow by Amanda Linsmeier Kate Quealy-Gainer Linsmeier, Amanda Six of Sorrow. Delacorte, 2024 288p Trade ed. ISBN 9780593707760 19. 99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780593707784 10. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-12 Isabeau and her five (now former) friends share a birthday, but even that unique connection couldn't withstand the strains of early adolescence. It's been three years since she's talked to any of the girls, with the exception of Reuel, whose stubborn loyalty to Iz keeps them together. After the pair celebrate their sixteenth birthdays with some drunken revelry in their town's creepy cemetery, Reuel goes missing, which—in a strange turn of events—brings the other girls all together again as the town mounts a search party. Fortunately, Reuel returns, but she's very ill and has no memory of where she was. When another of the friends goes missing and Iz finds a mysterious book in her attic, the girls realize their futures were put in jeopardy long before they were born, when their mothers made a terrible wish. Clear-headed, practical, and utterly devoted to her friends, Iz makes a steady narrator, which allows the book to lean fully into the scares with no hemming or hawing about whether something supernatural is afoot. Suffering for the sins of previous generations is a familiar theme in horror, but the relationships among the girls' mothers add another layer to the book's exploration of the amorphous, often unpredictable nature of friendship among teen girls. While the villain's comeuppance is a bit anticlimactic, the expertly built atmosphere and the contemplative themes earn this a spot next to Albert's Our Crooked Hearts (BCCB 6/22) and Legrand's Sawkill Girls (BCCB 10/18). Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois