Synopsis:
A Halloween festival in a town full of mediums.
A medium dead in the corn maze.
And a debt to the god of the dead that just came due.

Astra Arden has avoided Cassandra—hard to feel welcome when the mayor blames you for her son’s death. But when the town’s ghosts go silent and Hades calls in her mother’s old favor, avoiding it stops being an option. Someone in Cassandra is keeping a soul that belongs to the Underworld, and the Arden sisters have until the festival ends to bring it home.

Then a medium turns up dead under a sign in her own handwriting, the town closes ranks, and the mayor bans Astra from the grounds. Now she’s solving a murder from the couch above a gas station—in a town that won’t talk, hunting a soul in a town that talks to nothing else.

And midnight is coming either way.

Review:
“My sister had more faith in her father’s good nature than three thousand years of literature did, and I kind of loved her grumpy gothic butt for it.” (Page 104)

I absolutely loved this book. Astra has come so far from where she started out; she has friends and family that she relies on and communicates with. She is learning to be better in the roles she hasn’t had before, such as wife, and at being a sister who is present but not smothering or acting in a more parent role. This book focused on something important from earlier in the series; the star cards. While perhaps we have become too accustomed to the intervention and appearance of Gods/Goddesses in the lives of the Ardens, given the lineage of the sisters, it was great to see how connected (or not) the rest of the pantheon really is with the family. This book really helped put the timeline of Astra’s return home in perspective with how grown up and mature Ayla has become, and how she does have a life and identity outside of the family. I loved this mystery, and I honestly hadn’t seen what had happened coming at all! There were a lot of twists and turns, confusion, and ultimately, a conclusion that makes the next book need to be available immediately!

Cliffhanger warning, but the book was phenomenal!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯