All too often, adult readers look down upon young adult novels because they’re for a younger age group. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, though, as there are a number of really good YA books out there. More continue to come out every month and year, as well, including my latest read: Where He Can’t Find You by Darcy Coates.
Expected to release on the seventh of November, Where He Can’t Find You is Coates’ dip into the young adult sphere. Like many of those books, it centres upon a group of friends who have their own club name and look out for one another. They’re not the popular kids, nor are they terribly well known at school, but they’ve come together and formed a close group they call the Jackrabbits. Hell, you may even call them outcasts.
The Jackrabbits are all well aware of something, though, and that is the fact that something is very, very wrong inside of their hometown of Doubtful, Illinois. People continually go missing, and have dating back decades. Their bodies — or what’s left of them — end up being discovered even months later, but not intact. You see, something is taking the town’s residents, cutting them open and sewing them back up in grotesque ways. Sometimes parts of different bodies are sewn together, but, other times, the same body is returned in an odd manner, which an arm growing out of its shoulder or something. Each time, they’re put back together with stitched red thread, which is why people call the murderer the Stitcher.
Although nobody truly knows who, or what, the Stitcher is, they have their eye on one strange resident. He lives alone, because everyone nearby moved away or fled their homes. Meanwhile, every town resident steers clear of him when he’s out and about, though some of them leave gifts and trinkets tied to the fences near his home hoping that’ll buy them so luck. Even the police are wary of this man, though they’ve found nothing to hold him on.
When one of the Jackrabbits’ siblings goes missing, she (that being Abby) decides she’ll stop at nothing to get her back. This includes dealing with the purported killer, and venturing into a dark town history. One that involves lots of disappearances, animals being born with tumours and deformities, technology failing to work when the Stitcher is active and transportation issues that make bikes more reliable than cars. Will she find Hope in time? Or will he become yet another victim of the Stitcher?
Where He Can’t Find You is the third Darcy Coates book I’ve read, but only the second I’ve finished due to getting sidetracked. So far, it’s the best of the bunch. I do, however have a lot of her other books, which I bought for next to nothing when they were on sale. I hope to get to them someday soon, and hope I’ll enjoy them as much as I enjoyed this.
Although it starts off strong and isn’t able to maintain that level of quality throughout, this is an easy to recommend and memorable young adult horror novel. In fact, it’s one of the better young adult ones I’ve read. I do, however, wish that Miss Coates could’ve gone further with the horror. The premise was very creepy, as was the Stitcher, but I wanted more and to be scared more than I was. Then again, this book is written for teenagers, so there’s only so much she could’ve added in terms of blood, gore and other elements. There were some pretty nasty descriptions within, though.
Although the author isn’t American, she did a good job of setting this book within small town, USA. It felt believable, despite there being talk about a family all having keys to each of their doors, because the rule regarding the Stitcher involves locking your doors and not going out at night. You’re especially not supposed to go out alone, because that makes you more susceptible, or so they say.
It’s also a pretty well written and easy to follow novel, which will both disgust and entertain you. Darcy Coates is a talented writer, and a prolific one. This could easily be one of her best books yet.
If you’re looking for an interesting horror read featuring a unique baddie, look no further than Where He Can’t Find You by Darcy Coates. Although it’s targeted the young adult demographic it’s a good read for adults, too. I’m glad I gave this one a chance.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided with. Receiving a free digital advanced reader copy did not sway our opinion or our review score. Thank you to NetGalley and its publisher for the coverage assistance.