Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass

Scream meets Clueless in this YA horror from Adam Sass in which two gay teen BFFs find their friendship tested when a serial killer starts targeting their school’s Queer Club.

Dearie and Cole are inseparable, unlikeable, and (in bad luck for them) totally unbelievable.

From the day they met, Dearie and Cole have been two against the world. But whenever something bad happens at Stone Grove High School, they get blamed. Why? They’re beautiful, flirtatious, dangerously clever queen bees, and they’re always ready to call out their fellow students. But they’ve never faced a bigger threat than surviving senior year, when Mr. Sandman, a famous, never-caught serial killer emerges from a long retirement—and his hunting ground is their school Queer Club.

As evidence and bodies begin piling up and suspicion points at Dearie and Cole, they will need to do whatever it takes to unmask the real killer before they and the rest of Queer Club are taken down. But they’re not getting away from the killer without a fight.

Along the way, they must confront dark truths hidden beneath the surface of their small desert community. When the world is stacked against them and every flop they know is a suspect, can Dearie and Cole stop Mr. Sandman’s rampage? Or will their lonely nights soon be over . . .

Published by Viking Books for Young Readers
on September 12, 2023

Review:

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I am a child of the 80s and I was raised on cheesy slasher movies. I loved them. Couldn’t get enough! All I needed was a group of dumb teens and a sicko psycho stalking them and I was happy. I didn’t care how stupid the storyline was, or how terrible the acting, I just need a little tension and some good chase scenes some inventive kill scenes and my little teenage heart overfloweth.

In the early 90s there was a lull in the slasher genre, but then Scream came along and reignited it and my slasher-loving heart was so happy. Needless to say, when I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it. I mean, hello! Clueless meets Scream? Immediately sold. I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed. This is the type of book I wish I’d had when I was in high school!

The book alternates between the first-person points of view of Cole Cardoso and Frankie Dearie, gay BFFs and seniors at an Arizona high school where nothing much ever happens. Both can’t wait to graduate and move to California where they plan to break into film – Cole writing and directing and Frankie (who goes by Dearie) starring. They’ll just need to survive their senior year of high school first, and their senior year is worse than most. Cole and Dearie have always kind of gone against the grain – not conforming to a certain set of standards set forth by the school’s Queer Club and their bitchy leader, Grover, who seems to have an especially strong hatred of Cole – maybe because Grover wants to date Dearie and he’s jealous of Cole and Dearie’s close friendship.

But Grover is the least of their problems. When Grover and another girl are viciously attacked, and one of them ends up dead, it doesn’t take them long to realize that a serial killer from the 70s who was never caught may be killing again – or maybe they have a copycat. To make matters worse, whoever is stalking the teens in Queer club is doing everything they can to pin the murders on Cole and Dearie. The teens now have to not only clear their names but also do their best to help their fellow students survive the Sandman. Dearie’s mom and the FBI are on the case, but Cole has a penchant for true crime, so he, Dearie and the rest of the Queer Club start their own investigation, which ends up putting them in even more danger.

The book clips along at a nice pace and is a heck of a lot of fun to read. I adored Cole and Dearie – I liked that they were comfortable with who they were and unapologetically sassy, while still being kind and empathetic. They were less Regina George and more Cher Horowitz, which I loved.

Being that I am basically a slasher movie pro, I had the identity of the killer pinned down pretty early on, but that didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book at all. If you are a slasher fan (especially if you liked “Scream”) I would highly recommend this one. I gave it four stars across the board.