-
Access Our
Best Book Club
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Novella
by M. L. Rio
Book Reviewed by:The author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.
Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.
One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks―and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.
Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio's inimitable style.
As each character remains awake all night, Rio explores the debilitating psychological impact of sleep deprivation... For all its dark elements, however, much of the novella has a charming and nostalgic quality. The setting of a historic church; the macabre goings on; the charismatic amateur sleuths—this is classic cozy crime. And its structure—a motley crew of likeable characters that stumble into a creepy situation, then split up to hunt down clues before reuniting to solve the mystery—is basically an adult spin on Scooby-Doo...continued
Full Review
(850 words)
(Reviewed by Callum McLaughlin).
Each of the five protagonists in M. L. Rio's novella Graveyard Shift struggles, in some form, with lack of sleep. Insomnia, which is a persistent difficulty in getting adequate quality sleep, can have a significant negative impact on both our physical and mental health, with effects including anxiety, depression, memory problems, a weakened immune system, and chronic pain. It is also linked to conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
The number of people dealing with insomnia and other sleep disorders is on the rise around the world. Researchers have identified a number of causes of this increase. Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 is a major contributing factor; for many people, the pandemic generated and continues to generate significant...
If you liked Graveyard Shift, try these:
by Ritu Mukerji
Published 2024
For fans of Jacqueline Winspear and Charles Todd, Murder by Degrees is a historical mystery set in 19th century Philadelphia, following a pioneering woman doctor as she investigates the disappearance of a young patient who is presumed dead.
by Karen Thompson Walker
Published 2019
An ordinary town is transformed by a mysterious illness that triggers perpetual sleep.
.gif)
Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Catriona Ward, bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street
Graveyard Shift is wonderful - dark, strange and hair-raisingly tense - it spills over with atmosphere, full of flawed, fascinating characters. I raced through it.
