Review: One Dark Night by Hannah Richell

One Dark Night

by Hannah Richell

Release Date: August 19, 2025

2025 Atria Books

Ebook ARC; 384 Pages

ISBN: 978-1668081334

ASIN:  ‎ B0DJJYSWWL

Audiobook: B0DWYC2CB3

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Halloween

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

On Halloween, a group of teenage students meet in the woods near Sally in the Wood, a road steeped in local lore and rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a murdered girl. By the end of the night, one student will be dead.

Rachel, the school guidance counselor, is trying to keep a handle on her increasingly distant teenaged daughter, Ellie, while students and parents panic and mourn. Her ex-husband and detective Ben, dealing with a personal crisis of his own, has concerns about his daughter’s safety as he investigates the death of one of her classmates. Meanwhile, Ellie is keeping secrets from both her parents, including one about where she was that night.

 

My Thoughts

One Dark Night is one of those books I opted to read because it was about Halloween, and there is something I just love about the creepiness of that time, so here we are. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how effective the atmosphere of the book was with relation to the mystery; the woods, the creepy legend, the secrets with the community, and the general atmosphere certainly led to a menacing tale that was right up my alley, and I stayed up way too late finishing this book.

 

For me, the most impressive thing about this book was the setting. I adored the descriptions of the surrounding area and thought the folly was the perfect setting for such a book. As a teenager, I would have loved exploring the ruins left there and I would have definitely been fascinated by the legend; if you had asked me to go up there at night to go exploring, I would have been all over it. The whole thing had gothic undertones that permeated the whole book and considering the private school was set right beside the woods leading to the folly, you can guess what kinds of trouble teenagers would get themselves into, especially when told it was forbidden or out of bounds.  

 

The plot itself moved along at a good pace and it certainly delivered when it came to twists and turns. Typically I can pick out the culprit in a book such as this, but this book caught me off guard and I missed the mark, so I was pleasantly surprised by that. The murder itself was complex and multi-layered, something that gave me a lot to think about when the book finished as there were a lot of themes running through the story, themes of loyalty, family, neglect, deception, gaslighting, secrets, friendship, mental illness, and self-reflection. I liked how many of the characters were flawed and because of this, made mistakes when it came to judging what happened as well as judging the people in their lives. Some difficult realizations come to people as they realized what was actually going on their lives was not as rosy as it appeared and they had blinders on because they didn't want to see/acknowledge what was in front of them.  I think the only frustrating thing about a book like this is you don't really know if the characters have learned from their mistakes or if they will continue down the same paths that led them there in the first place.

 

Verdict

One Dark Night was a very well crafted mystery and it certainly delivered when it came to twists and turns. I thought the characters were interesting, even if some of the character development was a bit one-dimensional. The atmosphere had a spooky element to it and the author did a great job at including many credible suspects so you had to piece together what was happening with the main characters. Overall, I thought the book was fun and enjoyed it quite a bit. Highly recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery with atmosphere.