The Diviners by Libby Bray

Goodreads
592 pages, YA Paranormal (Magic, ghosts), thriller
The Diviners #1
My rating: 4.5 stars

Synopsis

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

My 2 cents

Wowza, I loved this book!  I seem to be on a string of reading the kind of creepy books that you should only read in the daytime!  This one tops the list of those so far!  This would be a great read around Halloween (if you wanted to scare yourself, that is!)

This book really exceeded my expectations.  It really doesn't feel like a YA novel--except there is not graphic sex or language, and the main character is 17.  This book was a paranormal, thriller murder mystery all rolled into one.  The killer is a spirit that has come back from the dead, after all!  The mystery isn't really just about the killer, though.  This book is the first in a series, and its actually about a group of people called "Diviners" who have special abilities--and something is going to happen, although we have no clue what.

Evie is the MC, and she just rocked!  Evie, and the setting of the story were easily my favorite things while reading.  The story is set in NYC in the Roaring Twenties, and the author definitely did her research!  It was like being transported in a time machine!  All of the crazy parties, lingo, fashion, and NYC society made this a really fun to read book, if at the same time, creepy!  My other favorite characters were Jericho and Evie's Uncle Will.  Uncle Will is a little strange, but a really interesting guy.  Jericho is guarded and obviously hiding something, but seems like a kind spirit.  

There is some romance in the book, but most of it does belong to other characters.  There are several side characters in the story, and we jump around between them and Evie.  At first, it just seems like a bunch of random stories, but eventually all their paths cross in some form or another.  Its kind of like watching the movie Love Actually or New Year's Eve.  All the characters were well rounded, and I almost felt like I was a spirit running around NYC, spying on all these people's lives!  

The actual string of murders...they gave me chills.  The violence and imagery is very violent, and deals with the Occult, so fair warning here.  There are plenty of light hearted moments (Thank you, Evie!) to balance it all out, though.  I recommend reading this during the day, but if you must read it at night, lock your door and turn on all the lights!