Into the Sublime
by Kate A. BoormanPublished by: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) on July 26, 2022
Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Rating:
When the cops arrive, only a few things are clear:
- Four girls entered a dangerous cave.
- Three of them came out alive.
- Two of them were rushed to the hospital.
- And one is soaked in blood and ready to talk.Amelie Desmarais' story begins believably enough: Four girls from a now-defunct thrill-seeking group planned an epic adventure to find a lake that Colorado locals call "The Sublime." Legend has it that the lake has the power to change things for those who risk—and survive—its cavernous depths. They each had their reasons for going. For Amelie, it was a promise kept to her beloved cousin, who recently suffered a tragic accident during one of the group’s dares.
But as her account unwinds, and the girls’ personalities and motives are drawn, things get complicated. Amelie is hardly the thrill-seeking type, and it appears she’s not the only one with the ability to deceive. Worse yet, Amelie is covered in someone's blood, but whose exactly? And where's the fourth girl?
Is Amelie spinning a tale to cover her guilt? Or was something inexplicable waiting for the girls down there? Amelie's the only one with answers, and she's insisting on an explanation that is more horror-fantasy than reality. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between?
After all, strange things inhabit dark places. And sometimes we bring the dark with us.
Content Tags:
Perfect for readers who want:
- Unreliable narrator.
- “Monster in the darkness” type horror
- Atmospheric psychological horror
- Lots of plot twists and turns
- Open ending
Many thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and TBR and Beyond Tours for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished product and my differ from the final version.
It’s that time of year when I devour spooky stories. The more it sends goosebumps up and down my spine, the better, as far as I’m concerned. So the moment I saw this cover, I knew I had to give it a try. Plus, that premise? Four girls go in, three come out, one covered in blood? Golden. Oh my gosh, yes.
Into the Sublime is a journey into the darkness . . . both literally and that which lurks in the human soul. Four girls go into a cave, but only three come out in this twisty, creepy, atmospheric psychological thriller.
Oh my gosh, the atmosphere in this book! I had chills most of the time I was reading. Not one I’d recommend reading before bed! Everyone is a suspect as things start going wrong for this group of strangers, and every time I thought I knew how it was going to end, I was mistaken. My biggest complaint was the open ending, but that’s just because I’m not a fan of that sort of ending. I like more concrete answers, personally! Authors, please don’t let my imagination fill in the gaps. It goes a little overboard, and suddenly there’s a castle filled with dragons and at least five chocolate fountains and a talking sword for no obvious reason and now I’ve completely forgot what the plot was. But that’s okay because dragons.
Four strangers enter a cave. Only three come out, and one is covered in blood. What a premise, right?!
If that right there doesn’t pique your interest and make you want to read, then this probably isn’t the book for you, honestly. Call me simple, but when I see a premise that promises to be twisty and full of surprises like that, I jump on it. And let me say, Boorman did not disappoint. There are a few twists that readers will likely see coming, but enough surprises where I didn’t want to put it down.
Into the Sublime is told by an unreliable narrator with a split timeline. The story starts in the “present,” as police are called to the scene of three women who emerge from a cave. One is covered in blood (or protagonist, Amelie). Two are immediately sent to the hospital in critical condition. One is missing. The bulk of the story is told in the past, occasionally undercut with the present. The reader struggles to understand what happened along with the police that are on the scene as the story unravels little by little.
This is definitely the sort of book with a slow build with a big payoff. It skirts the line between realism and magic, with the reader left to decide how they want to interpret everything that happens.
“It’s a zombie,” H said decisively. “It’s a zombie lair.”
“It’s a bunk bed,” Gia said. “It’s a summer camp.”
“Zombies like summer camp,” H protested.
“I think we’re good,” I said. “No need to disturb the campers.”
Gia accelerated, peering into the rearview and scanning the scene behind us. “Seriously. Who comes here for vacation?”
“I already told you,” H said. “People from Rifle.”
“You said zombies.”
“Yeah.”
This is your typical “monster in the dark” horror, set in a cave with an interesting lore: those who find the lake, known as the Sublime, are granted a wish.
Well . . . sort of. Technically, what the legend says is that whoever finds the lake will be “changed.” That’s a pretty neutral statement, right? Change isn’t always for the better. It’s almost the “be careful what you wish for” trope, but not quite.
The lore behind the Sublime is really quite interesting as it unfolds in the story. Even more interesting is what brought four complete strangers together in pursuit of such a thing. On the surface, it seems like it’s simple adventure-seeking. Not everything is so cut and dry, though. People are selfish as a general rule, so it makes sense that everyone is hoping to get something different out of this scenario. And no one is telling the truth.
“The lore says something will change,” I qualified. I hoped it sounded casual; my pulse had skipped with the thought.
“That something will need to be my underwear if I end up fighting mutant cave humanoids,” H said.
Gia rolled her eyes. “Those don’t exist.”
“You sure about that?” H asked.
This is a fun bunch of characters. They’re all very different, quite quirky, and definitely have secrets that they aren’t ready to share with the group.
I particularly enjoyed the banter between the characters. High-stress situation means there’s a lot at stake and the best (and worst) of someone’s personality come out. I will say that one slight drawback is that I never felt like I really connected with any of the characters, who were really reduced to one major character trait each. Still, I was in this book for the horror, and I didn’t really need to connect with the characters. I mean, I don’t watch psychological horror movies to feel for the characters. I watch them because life is terrifying, and I like the weird thump-thump my heart does and the goosebumps they give me. So it wasn’t a huge issue for me, in any case.
I don’t want to say too much about the characters, because discovering them and learning their secrets is kind of part of the point of the mystery. Also, it’s extremely satisfying. Why would I want to deprive you of that?! Needless to say, joining them on their venture into the darkness is actually quite fun. In a way I never thought entering an extremely dark, probably dangerous, potentially fatal cave would ever be.
“I’m good with messed up,” H said. “So long as it’s not ‘old Indian burial ground’ or ‘ceremonial cave’ messed up.”
“Ugh, yeah,” Gia agreed. “No ‘good white people disturbing the ancient, non-white evil’ please.”
“Uh, it’s not . . . that.” It wasn’t, was it? I’d honestly never thought about scary stories that way before. “It’s more like an . . . outsider tale?” I added: “With mysterious disappearances, possibly murder.”
We hit a wide, flat part of the trail where we could walk next to one another. I hurried to keep up with their strides.
“I like outsider tales,” Devon said.
“I like murder,” H said. We looked at her. “In my fiction, obviously.”
Boorman is a master at creating a spooky atmosphere that will drag you into the dark and force you to keep reading to uncover the answers!
Confession: I’ve had a deep-seated fear of the dark, along with claustrophobia. So being stuck in a cave? Kind of a nightmare scenario for me. Boorman really exploited that natural fear by creating a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere with monsters lurking in the shadows. Definitely enough to give any reader goosebumps, while not outright scaring the bejeesus out of them!
Vargas stilled.
“You remember?”
Vargas turned. “‘There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.'” It was after that quote that Amelie had snapped out of her reverie, agreed to tell the story.
“The opposite can also be true. Underneath the surface of the ugly can be something so sublime.”
Be prepared for an open ending that doesn’t necessarily answer all your questions! This isn’t necessarily a negative, depending on your reading preferences, so your mileage may vary.
For me, though? This is one of the most frustrating types of endings for me! I want hard, solid facts. I don’t need an ending that fills in everything, but enough where I’m not left wondering what the heck happened, and I have to make some pretty heavy-handed assumptions or guesses. I confess that I didn’t entirely understand this ending, which frustrated me a little bit, especially since I enjoyed the book so much and was looking forward to concrete answers! Obviously, this is just my opinion and my issue. But if open endings aren’t your thing, be forewarned!
About Kate A. Boorman
Kate A Boorman is an award-winning author from the Canadian prairies. She was born in Nepal and grew up in the small town of Rimbey. She writes speculative fiction and has a mild obsession with abandoned places, memory, and the darkest parts of the forest.
Kate holds a MA in Dramatic Critical theory and a resume full of a bizarre assortment of jobs, from florist to accordion accompanist to “person-who-held-the-drywall-sheet-in-place”. She has participated as a guest and presenter at a variety of Festivals and Conferences in Western Canada.
Kate usually lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with her family. She has recently returned from living in a faraway land, where there are many baguettes.
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I love how twisty this sounds, and I sort of agree with you about open ended endings, if done right they don’t bother me too much. Caves are so scary!
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…The Friday Face-Off: Gigantic
Yes! To me, the quintessential horror locations are spooky woods, haunted houses, and caves. They get me every time.
I don’t mind open endings if the author just doesn’t spell out what happened but gives enough to suggest what the outcome was and the reader has to piece the clues together on their own. I don’t like open endings where you need to fill in the blanks of what happened yourself and there’s not a lot to go on. To me, they’re very different kinds of open endings!
It sounds very different. Probably a bit too scary for me, but I’m very glad you enjoyed it.
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If you’re not a fan of horror, I’d definitely recommend giving this one a pass!
I’m not the biggest fan of horror, but my gosh, did that blurb grab me rightaway and had me dying to find out what happend with the girls! I’m also slightly afraid and wanting to know/ experience the atmosphere Boorman creates, so your revieq piqued my curioisty with this book in all sorts of ways!
I hope you get to read it! Definitely a good fall read, if you’re looking for something a little chilly to go with the weather. 😉