Madeline, Emerson, Owen, and Dax used to be friends when they were young. Back then, their group had one more member: Ian, who's been missing ever since they all played a horrifying game together, one they won't talk about. But now, as their senior year draws to a close, the four teens have each seen a haunting specter of Ian, bringing them back together to finish the game they started years ago. Thrust into a haunting underworld populated by fierce monsters and enigmatic figures from Japanese folklore, the four have only a single night to complete seven challenges they barely understand, and failure means they'll be stuck in this world forever. Simmons, an author and mental-health therapist, reworks Japanese mythology as she delves into the psyches of her primary players. While it's an occasional struggle to keep up with the detail-packed plot, Simmons has created an evocative world that reignites the Jumanji concept. A back half that ramps up the action and the horror will have readers racing for the end.

Estranged friends reunite to finish a game that claimed one of their number.When missing Ian comes back-appearing in ghastly encounters with each of his fellow Foxtail Five, asking why they left him and warning them that they must finish the game before dawn-the once-close friends are pulled back together. The characters-including overachieving, perfectionistic Madeline, who is Black and biracial; asexual white high school dropout and gamer Emerson; Owen, a bisexual star theater kid who is Japanese and white; and mysterious tan-skinned misfit Dax, whose ethnicity, like his father, is unknown to him-return to where it all began. There, they find the mysterious Japanese card game that took Ian. The ghost story gives way to a dark portal fantasy as they're taken to the corrupted world of Meido and sent on a fetch quest, based on the game's seven cards, to retrieve seven pieces of an empress's body that were turned to stone. Through their trials, they come up against twists on Japanese mythology and lavishly described grotesque horrors through depictions of a gamified underworld. Though the dawn time limit adds tension, the number of retrievals creates a predictable pattern for the plot. Luckily, the tasks make emotional demands on the characters, which helps distinguish them; in early chapters, their voices feel similar. Late revelations about the nature of the game and its players lead to a twisted climax, and the denouement promises a sequel.Fun for dark genre fans. (Fantasy. 12-18)

A group of teenagers must reckon with their shared past after they’re dragged into a deadly underworld filled with creatures from Japanese folklore in this Jumanji-inspired horror by Simmons (the Vale Hall series). Four years ago, 13-year-old best friends Dax, Emerson, Ian, Madeline, and Owen started a card game in a cave by the river, but harrowing events forced the teens to flee. Four years later, the now-17-year-olds are estranged, and they don’t talk about what happened—especially not the fact that they left Ian behind for dead. When they each begin seeing horrifying visions of Ian imploring them to finish the game, the group returns to the cave. There, they enter an otherworldly netherverse where they must complete a series of nightmarish challenges in order to rescue Ian and get back home. Told via dynamic changing perspectives, this rapidly paced narrative is alight with unsettling atmosphere and eerie instances of body and psychological horror that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 13–up. (Sept.)

Gr 9 Up— Four years ago, Maddy, Emerson, Dax, Owen, and Ian went into a small cave near the banks of the Ohio River. Finding a deck of cards painted with kanji, Japanese characters, the five begin to play a game. Only four of them leave the tunnel, not really remembering what happened to Ian. In the four years since, the friends have gone their separate ways, but when they begin to see Ian again, they know they need to finish the game. As they begin to play Karuta, a simple matching game, the four friends descend through a mad world filled with yokai, oni, and many terrifying elements of traditional Japanese folklore. The story is soaked in mythology, but even readers unfamiliar with it will not find this element confusing, and the characters are multifaceted in a way that makes it easy to connect with them and their situation. A very fast-paced tale that never lets up, this book is perfect for the spooky season and beyond, giving readers a new kind of horror novel that will fly off the shelves. The end hints at a sequel. VERDICT An excellent read, and one that is unique in the young adult section.— Adam Fisher