Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Tue Feb 28 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Four teen girls embark on a thrill-seeking quest that goes horribly wrong.The story starts at the end, at the very point of rescue, when the survivors are exhausted, injured, and barely intelligible. One girl is missing, two are taken to the hospital, and Deputy Vargas stays behind with Amelie, the one who will tell their story from the beginning, the one who is covered in blood-but not her own. Amelie, Devon, H, and Gia got together to explore an underground cave system that local legend says contains the Sublime, a subterranean lake with mystical powers that can change something important for those who find it-and who are willing to face their greatest fears. The four barely know each other beyond having met at Dissent, a group for those seeking extreme challenges, and each one harbors a secret reason of her own for hoping to find the Sublime. Amelie's ostensible excuse is a commitment to her late cousin-but is her account reliable? The more she gets into the tale of their misadventure, the more Vargas questions whether what she is hearing is the truth. This disorienting, claustrophobic, and genuinely frightening thriller follows the four girls as they descend into the darkness. With well-developed, sympathetic characters, a taut plot, and an unreliable narrator, the novel straddles the line between mystical and psychological horror to keep readers guessing to the end. Amelie and Devon are assumed White, H is Korean, and Gia is coded Latinx.A sublimely scary thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)

ALA Booklist (Tue Feb 28 00:00:00 CST 2023)

To what lengths would you go to change your past? For Amelie and her companions, it's an easy choice to venture into dangerous subterranean caverns in search of an underground lake called "the Sublime." Local folklore has it that anyone who finds the Sublime undergoes profound changes that provide clarity and perhaps even bend reality to the will of the seeker. Unfortunately, those who look for this lake have a bad habit of turning up dead. Nevertheless, Amelie must find it not for herself, then for her cousin Sasha, whom Amelie abandoned in an hour of need. But can she trust the other explorers traveling with her? Are any of them prepared for the dangers that lurk in the darkness? Boorman's claustrophobic book keeps the tension high as the POV bounces between Amelie and the experiences of the officers investigating the aftermath of the girls' expedition. Rather than being an action story, this has a psychological conceit, exploring the trauma-filled pasts of the girls venturing underground. A well-constructed thriller that explores guilt, identity, and authenticity.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Four teen girls embark on a thrill-seeking quest that goes horribly wrong.The story starts at the end, at the very point of rescue, when the survivors are exhausted, injured, and barely intelligible. One girl is missing, two are taken to the hospital, and Deputy Vargas stays behind with Amelie, the one who will tell their story from the beginning, the one who is covered in blood-but not her own. Amelie, Devon, H, and Gia got together to explore an underground cave system that local legend says contains the Sublime, a subterranean lake with mystical powers that can change something important for those who find it-and who are willing to face their greatest fears. The four barely know each other beyond having met at Dissent, a group for those seeking extreme challenges, and each one harbors a secret reason of her own for hoping to find the Sublime. Amelie's ostensible excuse is a commitment to her late cousin-but is her account reliable? The more she gets into the tale of their misadventure, the more Vargas questions whether what she is hearing is the truth. This disorienting, claustrophobic, and genuinely frightening thriller follows the four girls as they descend into the darkness. With well-developed, sympathetic characters, a taut plot, and an unreliable narrator, the novel straddles the line between mystical and psychological horror to keep readers guessing to the end. Amelie and Devon are assumed White, H is Korean, and Gia is coded Latinx.A sublimely scary thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)