Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you guessing and turning pages. The cover alone had me intrigued (isn’t it gorgeous?) and the blurb is right up my alley. I shotgunned this book in less than a day; it was so good I didn’t want to put it down.

Affiliate Disclaimer: I participate in the Amazon Affiliate program. As such, if you make a purchase through one of my links below, I’ll earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Your Lonely Nights Are Over

🥭🥭🥭🥭.5
🌶️🌶️
(you can find my rating and spice system here)

POV & Tense: Dual POV, first person, present tense
Genre: YA Thriller/Horror, LGBTQ+
Tropes/Themes: Best Friends, Serial Killer, Murder Mystery, Clever Killer, Falsely Accused, Planted Evidence, Small Town, Racism

Synopsis:

Cole and Dearie are fabulous, and they know it. With graduation approaching, they can’t wait to escape their tiny Arizona town. But when a serial killer—dormant for fifty years—starts targeting kids in the Queer Club, Cole and Dearie become suspects. The last thing they want is to spend time with the kids they’ve looked down upon, but they need to clear their names and find the killer—before the killer finds them.

My Review:

Described as Scream meets Clueless (and I’d add in a touch of Mean Girls), Your Lonely Nights Are Over is chock-full of laughs and scares. Each section starts with an excerpt from the popular docuseries Your Lonely Nights Are Over: The Search for Mr. Sandman (I love it when books have clippings or excerpts from books, letters, or tv shows!). While the original murders targeted anyone of any age, gender, or sexual orientation, the new string of murders focuses on high school seniors in the Queer Club. The killer is clever and relentless.

To Cool for School

Cole and Dearie are inseparable besties, and the other queer seniors want to be them, date them, or destroy them. They’ve spent the past few years alienating the other students in their small town, keeping secrets, and hooking up with the more popular boys in the neighboring big city high school. Because of this, when the Sandman killer starts killing again and the evidence points to Cole and Dearie, and no one believes they’re innocent.

This happens a lot—people blaming us. Looking cute and inspiring jealousy are kind of our thing. But death threats? That warrants a public denial.

Exploration of Racism

Racism is examined throughout this book. While Dearie is white, Cole is Latine. Even though their mothers are prominent members of the community—Dearie’s mother is a police officer while Cole’s is a surgeon—their experiences throughout the investigation are very different. Cole is an ode to two of Sass’ best friends, and I think he’s done an excellent job of illustrating white privilege vs the treatment experienced by people of color. 

Loneliness

Loneliness is a prominent theme throughout the story—the serial killer targets the broken-hearted and the perpetually single. Every member of the Queer Club is lonely—being young and queer can be an isolating experience—so they are all on the killer’s radar. And being targeted as suspects by the police is further isolating. I especially enjoyed the idea of accepting and embracing temporary loneliness versus staying in a subpar relationship out of fear.

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass

 

Final Thoughts:

There were so many clever twists and turns throughout this book, and I loved Cole and Dearie’s friendship. While I love romance, it’s refreshing to see a book celebrating gay friendship. This is definitely one I’d reread, and I can’t wait to check out more books by this author.

Author Stalking (but not in a creepy way):
Adam Sass is an award-winning screenwriter and author of many queer young adult novels.
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads
Bookbub

Background Banner Image Credit: Tucson Desert Cactus