Thank you PRH Audio for the ALC and Bantam #partner, for the advanced and finished copies of The Library After Dark in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Bantam / Random House Audio
Published: May 5, 2026
Summary:
A bookseller must escape the infamously haunted library that holds her darkest secrets, but with a murderer in her tour group, escaping alive is not as simple as it seems, in this twisty locked-room thriller from bestselling author of You Are Fatally Invited.
Not all fairytales were meant for children.
Aria Stokes is finally feeling settled—she lives in a tiny New York apartment, works as a bookseller at a local shop, and has even taken a leap of faith in love by indulging her attraction to bookstore regular Jasper. And he seems to already know her so well.
As a Valentine’s Day surprise, Jasper gets the two of them tickets to an exclusive, after-dark tour of the Daedalus Library—the grandiose establishment famed for its immersive genre-based reading rooms and, more notoriously, its rumored hauntings. While Aria normally loves all things ghastly, this place holds more dark secrets than she’d prefer Jasper to know. Like that the last time she was here, she left a body behind.
But when the automatic-door entry malfunctions and Aria, Jasper, and the five other people in their tour group become trapped in the library, they are forced to venture through the storied rooms and hidden passageways of the Daedalus in search of escape . . . and Aria quite literally has nowhere to hide from the shadows of her past. Then the group learns there’s a murderer in their midst.
Now, as she tries to break out of the library’s intricate reading rooms, Aria has to decide who she can trust—and what secrets are best kept buried—if she wants to make it out alive.
My thoughts:
Not all fairytales were meant for children…
This was one my most anticipated reads this month and it delivered in every way possible and then some. A locked-room thriller set in a haunted library is as thrilling as it is gripping, this book had me on edge, unable to set it down until I finished it. And even though I started the print version, once I saw it was narrated by a full-cast, I immediately switched versions.
This book is so incredibly atmospheric and chilling. I loved the way the fairytales are woven in — I mean I always knew they had a dark origin and Pliego really runs with it here, using it to create such an ominous tone! And so fun having the fairytales she used connect to a character…so clever!
The story is told from the POVs of all the characters and it quickly becomes evident everyone has secrets. I think I suspected just about everyone at one point and as the twists started hitting, it really becomes clear no one can be trusted!
This is such an immersive read — you feel as if you are in the library with these characters, going through each of the rooms. And the murder mystery itself really kept me on my toes…I had so many guesses!
Audio thoughts:
This audio is narrated by a full-cast & it is phenomenal!! Xe Sands, Euan Morton, Brittany Pressley, Susannah Jones, Hillary Huber, Saskia Maarleveld, Andre Santana, Allyson Ryan, Jay Ben Markson and Philip Hernandez all bring their A-game to this one, and are some of my favorites!! I found myself unable to stop listening because I was so engrossed in both the story and the narration!!
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