It's the summer of 1958, and a string of strange murders have begun in the Midwest, baffling and terrifying those who live to hear about them. Not much links the victims except the way they die: their bodies drained of blood, the crime scenes clean. In Black Deer Falls, Minnesota, Michael Jensen, the sheriff's son, dreams of becoming a journalist, and when the killer attacks his neighbors, he may have the story of a lifetime. This murder is like all the others except for one crucial difference: fifteen-year-old Marie Catherine Hale is at the scene, covered in blood, and she's willing to tell Michael her story. But the story she has to tell is strange, at times horrifying, and flecked with impossible details, and Michael may not want to hear the end. There's a blush of the supernatural here, but Blake (Three Dark Crowns, 2016) takes a sharp pivot out of dark fantasy for a dispassionate thriller, inspired by real murders, that reads like true crime. A chilling descent into the human psyche.

Gr 8 Up--Michael Jenson has always wanted to be a journalist. Over the course of the summer in 1958, Michael has followed what the newspapers have dubbed "the Bloodless Murders"--a string of violent murders across the Midwest where the victims have been found with every drop of blood drained from their bodies--and his daydreams of stumbling across a story this huge grow by the day. Then the unthinkable happens. Michael's small Minnesota town is rocked when the Carlson family is found murdered in their living room, drained of all their blood, with 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale found lingering in the next room, drenched in blood. Suddenly, Michael is thrust into the national spotlight when Marie insists that she will only tell her story to him. Blake based this story on the real-life murder spree of teenagers Charlie Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate and the murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. The protagonists are well-developed--timid, polite Michael and bold, headstrong Marie carry the story forward on their own. The scenes in which Marie is recounting the murders to Michael are easily the book's most riveting. Despite the fascinating inspiration and characterization, the novel overall suffers from uneven pacing and a repetitive narrative. However, readers may find the true crime aspect and vague supernatural layer thrilling enough to enjoy the book. VERDICT A quick murder mystery that may not satisfy hardcore thriller fans but will no doubt be extremely popular due to its macabre plot. --Tyler Hixson, Brooklyn P.L..

Through an assured voice and a vividly wrought small-town atmosphere, Blake (the Three Dark Crowns series) swiftly draws readers into this tense historical thriller inspired by a real-life murder spree. In the summer of 1958, the Bloodless Murders, so dubbed for the string of human victims found drained of their blood, strikes fear in the Midwest. When the bodies of the Carlson family are discovered in Black Deer Falls, Minn., there's a break in the case in the form of Marie Catherine Hale, 15 and white, who's found covered in blood at the scene of the crime. As the public pressure for answers mounts, Marie--in custody at the local jail--will only speak with 17-year-old Michael Jensen, a white aspiring journalist who's also the sheriff's son. After she offers up an impossible-seeming explanation, truth-obsessed Michael must determine whether she's being honest or exploiting his trust in her. Though the duo's taut back-and-forth can feel repetitive, the prosecutor's push to try Marie in a state where she's eligible for the death penalty keeps the stakes high throughout this well-crafted mystery for fans of In Cold Blood and None Shall Sleep. Ages 14--up. Agent: Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Foundry Literary + Media. (Sept.)

A "nobody from nowhere" gets the scoop of a lifetime. A paperboy and aspiring journalist in 1959 Black Deer Falls, Minnesota, 17-year-old Michael Jensen's heard about the previous summer's killings known as the Bloodless Murders or Dracula Murders. The body count so far is 12 blood-drained corpses found across the Midwest. Then blood-drenched 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale is discovered at the scene of the Carlson triple homicide in Michael's hometown. Ultimately unknowable Marie--cast as something of a femme fatale in contrast to Michael's bland, Everyman foil--doesn't deny her involvement but won't identify her much-mythologized accomplice. Infuriating an ambitious district attorney, the police, and national news reporters, Marie chooses to tell her slippery, shifting, and allegedly supernatural story solely to Michael. More of a sympathetic confessor than a callous interrogator, Michael works to tease out Marie's motives even as his community and the world question his entanglement with the case. Although she inserts a supernatural element, Blake otherwise grounds the true-crime--style tale--which acknowledges the influence of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood--in real-life issues like domestic abuse, poverty, privilege, and sexism. Paradoxically, even as the book scrutinizes the darker human appetite for serial killers, criminal escapades, and vengeance, it caters to these same urges. The enigmatic ending might leave readers without resolution, but like Marie's "truths," the full story may never be known. Main characters read as White by default. An insightful look at our morbid curiosity about murderers. (map, author's note) (Thriller. 14-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.