On July 4, 1977, while most of Michigan was lighting grills and sparklers, a small plane quietly disappeared — and nearly 50 years later, it still hasn’t been found.
John and Jean Block took off that day in their green-and-white Cessna 150J, departing the Detroit area for a short recreational flight north. Their destination was Lost Creek Sky Ranch, a once-popular fly-in resort between Luzerne and Mio that attracted pilots looking for an easy weekend getaway.
No mayday call. No confirmed crash site. No debris. No answers.
A Flight That Shouldn’t Have Vanished
A Cessna 150J isn’t a mystery aircraft. It’s small, slow, loud, and very much not designed to disappear. Flights like this happen every day in Michigan, especially in summer. The route would have taken the Blocks over farmland, forests, rivers, and long stretches of sparsely populated land — but nothing especially dangerous by aviation standards.
That’s what makes this case so unsettling.
The last known radio communication was routine. John Block reportedly radioed ahead asking for a car to be ready at the ranch. That transmission was received.
Then the radio went silent.
Searches began almost immediately. Air patrols flew grid patterns. Ground teams pushed through woods. Rivers and swamps were checked. Hunters, hikers, pilots, and locals were all asked to keep their eyes open.
Lost in the Trees
Over the years, investigators have narrowed the likely crash area to central and northern Michigan — possibly near Mount Pleasant, or deeper into the vast forests of the Huron-Manistee National Forest or Atlanta State Forest.
And if you’ve ever been in those woods, you understand how something can vanish.
Michigan forests aren’t neat. They’re layered. Thick canopy. Swamps hidden under brush. Trees that fall and disappear into themselves. A small plane could go down, break apart, and be swallowed whole in a matter of seasons — especially in areas that don’t see much foot traffic.
Add snow. Add rain. Add time.
After a few decades, aluminum doesn’t exactly announce itself.
The Psychic Twist
The case recently resurfaced thanks to an old newspaper clipping that began circulating again online — one that included a psychic’s claim about where the plane went down. That article was originally published just weeks after the disappearance and suggested the crash occurred near Mount Pleasant.
Whether you believe in psychics or not, the resurfacing of that clipping did something important: it reminded people that this mystery still exists.
Families are still looking. People still care. And the plane is still out there.
Why This Case Still Bugs People
Most missing-plane stories eventually resolve themselves. Someone stumbles across wreckage. A fisherman finds debris. A hiker notices something unnatural in the woods.
That hasn’t happened here.
Which raises uncomfortable questions:
Did the plane go down in an area no one visits?
Could it be submerged in a river, bog, or swamp?
Did weather suddenly disorient the pilot?
Or did the aircraft drift farther off course than anyone realized?
There’s no evidence of foul play. No sign the Blocks intended anything other than a normal holiday flight. Which makes the lack of answers even harder to accept.
This wasn’t a risky mission. This wasn’t extreme weather aviation. This was a summer trip.
And those aren’t supposed to end like this.
The YouTube Factor
Yes — there are YouTube videos about this case.
Several aviation enthusiasts, Michigan mystery channels, and amateur search groups have posted videos breaking down the flight path, mapping possible crash zones, and even documenting physical search attempts in the woods. Some videos walk through Google Earth overlays. Others show boots-on-the-ground searches in forested areas believed to be along the Blocks’ route.
None have produced confirmed evidence.
But collectively, they’ve kept the case alive — and introduced it to a new generation that understands just how strange it is for a plane to vanish in a state as heavily traveled as Michigan.
Why People Are Looking Again
Technology has changed since 1977. Satellite imagery is sharper. Mapping tools are public. Drones exist. Social media allows thousands of eyes to focus on the same problem.
And every spring, when snow melts and the forest floor opens up just a little, the question comes back:
Could this be the year someone finally finds it?
Because all it takes is one hunter. One hiker. One person noticing metal where metal doesn’t belong.
A Mystery Still Waiting
Nearly half a century later, John and Jean Block’s flight remains one of Michigan’s most haunting unsolved stories. Somewhere — under trees, beneath water, or hidden in plain sight — the answer is waiting.
Until then, it remains a uniquely Michigan mystery: quiet, wooded, unresolved… and still very much unfinished.
People in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland reported a mysterious fireball in the night sky on Tuesday, Dec. 30, according to the American Meteor Society.
A resident of Arlington, Virginia, posted video of the mystery orb on the society’s website.
Two North Carolinians reported seeing it, too, at 6:59 p.m.
“I have seen fireballs before,” including three over a couple of days around the same time of the year in 2025, “at this time of day … early evening … as well,” a Durham resident wrote on the society’s website.
“But this was the first time someone I was with caught sight of it, too,” the resident identified only as Kim K. said.
No sound could be heard, residents say
Tuesday’s fireball was visible for about 3.5 seconds, streaking “from down left to up right,” Kim K. said.
Jonathan R. of Greenville saw the fireball darting “from up right to down left,” also for 3.5 seconds.
The fireball was silent, both North Carolinians said. The 10 other people who reported the fireball also said they heard no sound from the celestial wonder.
Help report fireballs
The society encourages people to report anything they see that’s “bright and fast” in the sky and may look like a shooting star. “Report it: it may be a fireball,” society officials say.
Filing a report is important because it alerts the society “to potentially scientifically significant events that occur, and contributes to the general database of knowledge about meteors.”
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
There is something so satisfying about a murder mystery that somehow connects all its characters and plot points by the ending. Connie Berry’s new book release does exactly that. We’ve read a few mysteries this year, and we think A Grave Deception may just be our favorite one yet!
A Grave Deception by Connie Berry is the sixth book in the author’s Kate Hamilton Mystery series but can be read as a standalone. And after reading this new installment, we’re sorely tempted to binge the rest of the series. Here are three reasons why A Grave Deception needs to be your next read!
Image Source: Penguin Random House
Book Overview: A Grave Deception
Content warnings: death, murder, violence, weapons, slight gore, bodies, corpses, mentions of sexual assault and blackmail, pregnancy
Summary:Kate Hamilton and her husband, Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, have settled into married life in Long Barston. When archaeologists excavating the ruins of a nearby plague village discover the miraculously preserved body of a fourteenth-century woman, Kate and her colleague, Ivor Tweedy, are asked to appraise the grave goods, including a valuable pearl. When tests reveal the woman was pregnant and murdered, the owner of the estate on which the body was found, an amateur historian, asks Kate to identify her and, if possible, her killer. Surprised, Kate agrees to try.
Meanwhile, tensions within the archaeological team erupt when the body of the lead archaeologist turns up at the dig site with fake pearls in his mouth and stomach. Then a third body is found in the excavations. Meanwhile, Kate’s husband Tom is tracking the movements of a killer of his own.
With the help of 700-year-old documents and the unpublished research of a deceased historian, Kate must piece together the past before the grave count reaches four.
The Lovable Cast
While A Grave Deception was our first time meeting the characters of the Kate Hamilton Mystery universe, we were instantly charmed! Kate and Tom are our royal couple now, to be honest. Their relationship is so healthy and intentional; we’re curious to know how these two met. They each give off such a warm and kind energy. It’s no wonder the suspects all seem to spill their secrets around Kate. We also love Kate’s colleague Ivor with his calm, paternal demeanor and comedic relief.
Kate’s Investigative Savvy
We seriously enjoyed solving the different mysteries alongside Kate in A Grave Deception. She’s resourceful, well connected, and so sensible about her private investigations. In solving the mystery of the Egemere Woman, Kate needed to view archives from the fourteenth century, documents that are already plenty difficult to find, let alone translate. Then came the murder mystery of Dr. Sinclair, a not-so-pleasant man surrounded by a team with plenty of motives. And Kate pieced the puzzle together seamlessly!
Interconnected Murder Mysteries
Speaking of seamlessly, the author also weaves the three (yes, three!) different murder mysteries together beautifully in A Grave Deception. We don’t want to spoil too much, so bear with our vagueness. When a third body is found at the same archaeological site, a nine-year-old cold case reopens. As Kate starts to uncover the identity of the Egemere Woman, she can’t help but notice similarities with that of the third victim. The third victim’s ties to Dr. Sinclair and his murderer turn out to be closer than we could’ve imagined.
With incredible pacing, lovable characters, and three interconnected murder mysteries, A Grave Deception by Connie Berry has quickly become our new favorite mystery of the year!
A Grave Deception by Connie Berry releases on December 9th, and you can order a copy of it here!
What do you think of the latest installment of Connie Berry’s Kate Hamilton Mystery series? Are you looking forward to reading A Grave Deception? Let us know over on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Content Warnings: violence, murder, sexual assault, substance abuse, infidelity
Summary:New Year’s Eve hits different in your thirties. Especially when the party ends in murder.
It used to be an annual thing—the raucous New Year’s party full of games and hors d’oeuvres. But for Olivia and her friends, the chaos of their thirties has really challenged the definition of annual. It’s been a few years since the close friends were last…close. But this year is gonna be different. The burnout, parenting stress, credit card debt, job drama, marriage troubles, addiction—they’re going to set it all aside for the night. No, really. They swear.
Oh, except for the secrets. Every last person has one… But secrets are only as good as the people you trust to keep them, and when the wrong one slips out…well, friends or not, that just might become motive for murder.
Everybody thinks they know their closest friends—until somebody winds up dead.
Image Source: Photo Courtesy of HarperCollins
New Year’s Eve is usually all about fresh starts and glittery optimism. But for Olivia and her long-time friends, that midnight countdown comes with a body count. Jenna Satterthwaite’s The New Year’s Party turns a familiar reunion scenario on its head with a story that’s both relatable and jaw-dropping. Written in a style that’s conversational yet polished, it draws readers in with wry humor and mounting suspense.
1. Old Friends, New Drama
After years of adulting (careers, kids, mortgages), Olivia and her once inseparable high school friends have drifted apart. This New Year’s Eve is their big chance to reconnect. From the moment they reunite, it’s clear each person is lugging more baggage than the overnight kind. Burnout at work? Check. Marriage on the rocks? Definitely.
Each thirtysomething in the room wears a polite party face that barely disguises the personal chaos underneath. It’s a scenario many readers in their late twenties or thirties will recognize: a bittersweet mix of nostalgia and the stark reality that growing up often means growing apart. And as this story shows, sometimes those old friendships hide new secrets capable of sparking serious fireworks.
2. Champagne, Confetti, And Crime
The setting is a classic New Year’s house party in the Midwest, complete with hors d’oeuvres, silly party games, and champagne fizzing over plastic flutes. There’s an almost cinematic quality to the backdrop: imagine a cozy living room decked with twinkle lights and half-forgotten inside jokes. It all feels comfortingly familiar until the stroke of midnight approaches and the atmosphere shifts from festive to foreboding.
The author uses the holiday’s bubbly energy as a clever contrast to the darkness lurking among the guests. One minute, the friends are clinking glasses, and the next minute, we’re reminded that this isn’t your typical New Year’s bash. The confetti isn’t the only thing hitting the floor tonight. By the time the clock strikes twelve, someone will be dead, and that glittery party backdrop suddenly feels more chilling than cheerful.
3. No Resolutions, Just Revelations
If New Year’s is about resolving to change, these friends are more focused on revealing what’s been hidden. Every guest at Olivia’s party has a secret (or three) tucked away, and watching those secrets spill out is half the thrill. Satterthwaite masterfully unravels the group’s tangled web of lies and grudges through sharp dialogue and tense exchanges. Little confessions drop like unexpected party favors, each one upping the stakes.
Did someone just confess to an affair under their breath, or is that a hint of financial disaster behind a forced smile? With each reveal, alliances in the room shift on a dime. It’s the kind of drama that feels uncomfortably real (who hasn’t worried about a friend blabbing a confidence after a few drinks?), yet it escalates into deliciously high-stakes territory. In The New Year’s Party, secrets aren’t just social ticking bombs; they’re motives, each potent enough to push someone over the edge.
4. Ten Perspectives, One Wild Night
The novel doesn’t stick to one storyteller. Instead, it hands the mic to nearly everyone at the party. That means we hop between multiple characters’ viewpoints, each chapter peeling back a new layer of the night’s events. This narrative style gives readers a 360-degree view of the chaos. We see grudges, fears, and long-held resentments from every angle. It’s an ambitious move, but it pays off by making the mystery feel rich and communal.
Every friend has their moment to shine or incriminate themselves. The shifting perspectives mimic the vibe of actually being at the party: snippets of whispered conversations, side glances, and private thoughts that only we, the readers, get to piece together. It might sound like a lot to track, but the narrative keeps each voice distinct enough that you quickly remember who’s who and who’s hiding what.
5. Twists And Turns (Spoiler-Free!)
It’s hard to talk about the best parts of a murder mystery without giving things away, but here’s what can be said: The New Year’s Party does not disappoint when it comes to twists. The novel opens with a bang, quite literally, as we find out in the first few pages that one of the friends is dead. From there, the story rewinds to the morning of the party and methodically builds suspense.
Every chapter ends on a note that dares you not to read the next. Satterthwaite plants red herrings throughout, so just when you think you’ve figured out the victim or the culprit, another curveball hits. By the final chapters, multiple mini-bombs drop, each one more shocking than the last. It’s a thrill ride that will make you second-guess every character’s alibi. Best of all, the big reveal lands with a satisfying punch, leaving no loose ends in the confetti.
6. A Thriller Worth RSVPing
At its heart, The New Year’s Party is both a cautionary tale and a celebration of the messy bonds between friends. It asks how well we really know the people we grew up with, and how much we’ve all changed since high school. The narrative flows like a lively conversation, mixing nostalgia and shock in equal measure. For a younger audience, especially, the story feels fresh and dynamic, addressing modern anxieties (hello, burnout and social media envy) while delivering old-school thriller payoffs.
It’s a page-turner that can make you cringe in recognition one moment and gasp in surprise the next. Polished yet playful, this novel has the irresistible vibe of a New Year’s Eve party you’d hate to miss (minus the actual homicide, of course). In the end, Jenna Satterthwaite serves up a fizzy cocktail of suspense and insight that goes down easy with a wicked aftertaste!
The New Year’s Party manages to be both a razor-sharp friendship drama and a crackling murder mystery that leaves you breathless by midnight.
Whenever we crave a murder mystery, we always seem to think of Maureen Johnson. The thrill of gathering clues and figuring out the investigation hits different with all her books. This month, she teamed up with illustrator Jay Cooper to give us a solve-it-yourself mystery—You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder!
This new murder mystery by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper comes out just in time for you to plan your Halloween parties and themed dinners this fall. We had so much fun reading along to You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder, and here’s why!
Image Source: Penguin Random House
Book Overview: You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder
Content warnings: death, blood, bodies, references to drug use, addiction, and overdose, heavy drinking, drowning, stabbing, poisoning (Read at your discretion!)
Summary:Dear Detective,
Surely you have seen the papers and read about the dreadful murder of the American novelist—stabbed while in a room with six other people, and yet no one went near him or saw the murder occur. The crime is so devious, so logistically impossible, that it seems to have been committed not by a person but by a disembodied hand.
I must confess that we are at a loss. Who wrote the poison pen letters that lured these seven people to this deadly gathering? A poet, an earl, an actress, a cook, a telephone operator, and a lothario . . . What do they have in common? And how could a man be stabbed in a room full of suspects, even though no one went near him or saw a thing?
We have had our best people on the case, Detective, and we still can’t make heads or tails of it. We are giving this case file to you. Can you decipher the clues, decode the witness statements, and identify the murderer? You are our last hope. Can you help us crack the Creeping Hand Murder?
Yours truly, Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police
Interacting With The Mystery
If you’re anything like us, an interactive murder mystery makes for a great way to pass the time. You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper tested our memory and attention to detail. The photos of the crime scene combined with each suspect’s testimony made us feel like we were there when it happened. We kept flipping back and forth through the pages to try and catch any clues we missed the first time around.
The Detailed Illustrations
The illustrations in You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder really sealed the deal for us. We especially love the floor plans and the photos of everyone at the crime scene. Every part of the illustrations is intentional, especially when certain photos come up later in the investigation. (No spoilers here!) We’re not ashamed to admit that more than a few details went over our heads. But trust that the incriminating evidence was there the whole time.
Final Guesses
Before we got to the big reveal in You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder, the authors gave us a pause to lock in our final predictions. Although we thought our two guesses had great odds of being the killer, we were ultimately wrong. Even when we try not to fall for the most obvious suspects, we couldn’t pick up on the real killer. We aren’t too worried, though. That just means we need to hone our detective skills a little more. And we’d be happy to do that with another solve-it-yourself mystery book! *wink wink*
Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper’s interactive mystery, You are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder, was so entertaining and rich in detail. We were stumped until the end!
You are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper comes out September 16th, and you can order a copy of it here!
How did you enjoy Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper’s solve-it-yourself mystery? Were you able to find the murderer in You are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Summary: Two years ago, Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that day: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but.
So when billionaire turned TV host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college. But when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, something isn’t right. The set is empty. The gates close without warning, trapping them inside. And then one of them turns up dead. What appeared at first to be a tragic accident quickly transforms as more contestants start dropping like flies. With time and resources running low, surviving this show takes on a whole new meaning. Mercy must figure out who to trust. Before she’s next.
Image Source: Courtesy of Penguin Random House 
Imagine signing up for a reality TV survival show, only to find out the cameras aren’t rolling and the stakes are life or death. That’s the nightmare scenario at the core of Kate Alice Marshall’s new YA thrillerWE WON’T ALL SURVIVE. Written in a gripping, conversational style, the novel blends a high-octane survival game with a whodunit twist. It’s a story that feels chillingly relevant in the age of viral stunts and billionaire showmen. The premise might sound like The Hunger Games crossed with One of Us is Lying. But Marshall makes it feel fresh.
In WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE, Mercy Gray is a teenager carrying some heavy baggage. Two years ago, Mercy became an unlikely hero after saving lives during a mall shooting. But that “hero” label came with scars. She’s got a bullet fragment lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings about the sweet boy next door (who turned out to be anything but). That’s not exactly the happily-ever-after you’d expect for a teen who saved the day. Worse, Mercy is haunted by guilt. She ignored her younger sister’s warning about the shooter beforehand, a mistake that weighs on her every day.
Now 18 and desperate to help her family, Mercy jumps at a strange but tempting opportunity. Enter Damien Dare: a billionaire-turned-TV-host with a flair for the dramatic (and the bank account to fund it). He recruits Mercy to compete on his new survival reality show. The prize? A life-changing cash payout that could solve Mercy’s problems in one fell swoop. A billionaire running a private survival game for entertainment sounds almost dystopian, right? In 2025, it also feels just plausible enough to give you chills. Mercy figures braving a few weeks in the wilderness on camera is a small price to pay for a shot at financial freedom. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Lights, Camera,…Murder?
Mercy and a motley crew of fellow contestants arrive at an isolated, off-grid camp. They expect the usual reality TV setup: camera crews, producers, maybe some cheesy team challenges. Instead, they find no cameras, no crew, and no way out. The set is eerily deserted. Before they can say “tribal council,” the compound’s gates lock shut, trapping them inside. Then one contestant turns up dead under mysterious circumstances. It’s clear this isn’t the game any of them signed up for. There’s no audience to vote anyone off the island. No medic to call when things go wrong. Just a group of terrified teens and a ticking clock.
At first, some think the death might be a freak accident; after all, they are roughing it in the wild. But as more contestants start falling victim one by one, it becomes obvious that someone (or something) is picking them off. Is there a killer among the contestants? Is this all an insane stunt orchestrated by Damien Dare for ratings? The novel keeps you guessing. Each chapter raises new questions and doubts. Trust quickly erodes between these stranded competitors. In a twisted funhouse-mirror version of Survivor, alliances form and break in real time. Literally no one knows if they’ll be alive by the season finale.
The billionaire puppet-master, Damien Dare, is notably absent once the mayhem kicks off. His presence looms over the story through the elaborate game design. And there’s always the fear that he might be watching from behind the scenes. It’s like he created his own private Lord of the Flies experiment for the TikTok generation. Honestly, the idea of a celebrity billionaire trapping people in a secret survival game doesn’t even feel far-fetched. Not in our era of extreme reality TV. That subtle “this could actually happen” vibe makes the reading experience that much more thrilling and unsettling!
2. Mercy Gray: A Hero With Scars And Heart
One of the reasons WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE hits so hard is its protagonist. Mercy isn’t your typical horror-movie final girl or attention-seeking reality show contestant. She’s grounded and relatable. A girl who’s been through tragedy and is just trying to protect her little sister and secure a future. Marshall gives Mercy a depth that’s sometimes rare in thrillers. Yes, Mercy is tough and resourceful (you don’t survive a shooting at 16 without some serious grit). But she’s also vulnerable. She has lingering trauma and survivor’s guilt from that day at the mall, and a cynicism beyond her years. When she agrees to join the show, it’s not for fame or fun. It’s out of a sense of duty to her family, and maybe a bit of desperation. That motive makes her easy to root for from page one.
Mercy’s past also plays into how she navigates the deadly game. She’s been hailed as a hero before, but she doesn’t feel like one. In the reality show gone wrong, she’s cautious and guarded. Mercy is wary of playing hero again unless absolutely necessary. That internal conflict adds a compelling layer to the story. Everyone expects her to be the fearless hero, but inside she’s still a terrified teen. It’s not just about external survival. It’s about Mercy grappling with what survival even means to her. Watching Mercy slowly come to terms with the fact that she wants to survive (not just for others, but for herself) is quietly empowering amid all the chaos.
And let’s be real: Mercy’s not the only one carrying baggage. Each contestant on Dare’s show has their own secrets and reasons for being there. (Honestly, who signs up for a survival game like this unless they really need the money or the fame?) The book drops hints that everyone has something to hide, which means plenty of red herrings once bodies start dropping. Mercy must decide whom to trust. She knows that trusting the wrong person could be a fatal mistake.
3. High Stakes And Twisty Mysteries
Describing WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE as a page-turner almost feels like an understatement. Marshall cranks up the tension to 11 and never really lets your heart rate drop. The moment Mercy and company realize this isn’t just play-acting for TV, the novel launches into survival-mystery overdrive. Every chapter seems to end with a mini cliffhanger. There’s always a new puzzle piece that makes you question what you thought you knew. It’s the kind of book where you tell yourself, “just one more chapter” at midnight. Suddenly, it’s 3 AM and you’re wide-eyed, wondering who will make it to morning. (Consider yourself warned).
Marshall also knows how to play with tropes and expectations. Think you’ve identified the love interest or the sidekick? Think again. The story doesn’t hesitate to put anyone in danger. There were moments that had us yelling, “No way did that just happen!” Marshall isn’t afraid to shock you, but nothing feels like a cheap trick. The twists are earned, and clues are cleverly laid out for sharp-eyed readers to pick up (you’ll have the urge to play detective alongside Mercy). As the contestant pool shrinks and paranoia skyrockets, you start suspecting everyone. And that’s exactly what the author intends. It’s a wild ride, but a fair one; all the puzzle pieces click by the end! Just know that the finale brings one last surprise that might make you gasp, and it cements the book’s status as one of the most entertaining YA thrillers of the year.
4. Themes (More Than Just A Thrill Ride)
For all its adrenaline and “gotcha” moments, WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE also packs some thematic punches. This isn’t a shallow slasher story. Marshall uses the extreme scenario to explore deeper issues. The book tackles trauma, for one: how people cope (or don’t) after surviving the unthinkable. Mercy’s trauma from the mall shooting didn’t magically vanish. It’s an ongoing part of her life, influencing her choices. Through Mercy and others, the narrative shows how survivors are treated by society. They’re hailed as heroes, then left alone to deal with nightmares and medical bills. There’s a streak of social commentary here about media and voyeurism, too. A billionaire literally turning tragedy into prime-time entertainment sounds crazy, but it also hits a nerve. Are we as a society guilty of turning real pain into spectacle? Shows like Squid Game might be fiction. But the popularity of extreme reality contests makes Marshall’s premise feel like a pointed cautionary tale.
The novel also isn’t afraid to call out toxic masculinity and power imbalances. Remember that sweet boy-next-door who turned out to be a violent threat? Mercy’s backstory highlights the danger of ignoring warning signs. And the story at large examines how some people manipulate trust and sympathy, whether in personal relationships or on a larger scale (looking at you, Damien Dare). Indeed, the messaging is there if you look for it, but it never slows down the story’s pulse. You can absolutely enjoy WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE as a straightforward thriller. Alternatively, you can delve into the questions it raises about trust, guilt, and the lengths people will go to in order to survive. Both readings are equally satisfying!
Finally, there’s an underlying theme of community and alliances. A crisis can bring people together or tear them apart. Strangers start as teammates, then become suspects, then, in some cases, friends who’d sacrifice for each other. The relationships (and heartbreaks) that form under life-or-death pressure give the book its emotional core. It’s not all doom and gloom. There are moments of human decency shining through the darkness, too. Those bonds make you care about the characters’ fates even more.
5. A Fresh, Fast-Paced Read For Thrill Seekers
Stylistically, Marshall delivers a thriller that’s brisk and accessible. The prose is conversational and not overly drenched in gore. It stays suitable for a teen audience without sacrificing suspense. In fact, the book’s restraint on graphic violence lets the tension and psychological fear take center stage. Readers who might shy away from full-on horror will appreciate that WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE is more about nerve-wracking suspense than gross-outs. It’s the kind of read that’s perfect for a wide audience. Seasoned mystery lovers will enjoy piecing together clues. Horror fans get the survival-game chills. Even more casual readers will be hooked by the reality-show-gone-wrong premise.
Pacing is one of the novel’s strong suits. At about 336 pages, it’s a quick read that wastes no time. Marshall sets the scene and kicks off the action early. You’re deep in danger before you know it. But she also gives you just enough breathing room to latch onto the characters. The alternating beats of character reflection and sudden peril create an addictive rhythm. If you’re a fan of witty banter or gallows humor among stressed-out teens, there’s a bit of that, too. It offers welcome relief amid the tension.
For those who keep up with YA trends, WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE stands tall among 2025’s releases. It shares DNA with other popular YA thrillers (think Holly Jackson or Karen McManus vibes). But it also feels uniquely timely. Marshall’s earlier work, like I Am Still Alive, showed she knows her way around survival stories. And here she ups the ante. It’s clear she’s in command of the genre. She knows when to hit the gas and when to let a character’s quiet fear sit with you. By the time the book reaches its climax, you’ll likely be incredibly invested. You might even find yourself mentally bargaining with the author to let your favorite characters live. And that emotional investment is the mark of a thriller doing its job!
WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE is more than a catchy title, it’s a promise, a pulse-pounding ride that entertains while holding up a scarily plausible mirror to our obsession with spectacle!
Pippa’s crime-scene board began with a couple of photos and a timeline and has now grown to fill her entire bedroom wall. Instead of boy-band posters or Polaroids of friends, Pip has opted to plaster her room with relics from the Sal Singh–Andie Bell case, a not so subtle visualization of how much she has become consumed with it. A bedroom is such a personal space, and Pip’s says a lot about what’s going on beneath that bob and inside her mind. Everything is copy — the copy here being Andie and Sal.
Pip’s expanding research has led her to two young women who still live in Little Kilton: Emma Hutton (Georgia Aaron) and Nat da Silva (Jessica Webber), Andie’s two best friends. Pip strikes out with Emma, who speaks kindly of both Sal and Andie but shuts down as soon as Pip suggests there might have been more to Andie that Emma didn’t know. Pippa has a whole lot of moxie and determination, but she could use a more compassionate partner, a good cop to her bad cop.
Enter: the adorkable Ravi Singh, Pip’s knight in Carhartt armor. Ravi and Pip’s friendship has progressed to the point where Pippa giggles every time she receives a text message from him. They meet up to scheme — blah blah blah, Nat da Silva, blah blah blah, Emma Hutton, blah blah blah, scheming. It’s impossible to hear a thing because Ravi aims his big heart eyes at Pip while she rattles on and on about the case. He is a man in love! And to really sweeten the moment, Pip asks Ravi to tell her about Sal, a question everyone in his life has been afraid to ask. Ravi softens to talk about how much he misses his brother and why it feels as if he’s unable to grieve.
Ravi’s quiet nature fits perfectly with Pip’s forwardness. It’s not that Ravi doesn’t want to talk about Sal or that he’s quiet because he’s antisocial; it’s that, after years of hiding from the cruel townsfolk who hate his family, he has learned to keep his mouth shut. Now, with curious Pippa pinging him with endless questions about his life, it’s like Ravi can finally breathe. He becomes himself around Pip. And Pippa, in turn, could learn from Ravi’s ability to hold his tongue before he speaks. So: partners. They should be partners. Both as detectives and, if I had my way, in life.
Over at the Ward household, Pip makes amends with Cara. “I think sometimes I get fixated on something and I can’t do anything else,” she says. Who among us hasn’t had to apologize to our closest friends and family after going a little too hard on a micro-obsession? Cara accepts her apology as long as Pippa promises to leave Naomi out of it. Pip agrees. Cara invites Pip to watch her kill it on the tennis court later in the week — ironically, against Nat. Everything Pippa does is related to this damn case!
Here’s where A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder makes the first major deviation from the original novel, in which Nat is not Andie’s best friend. In fact, quite the opposite — in the book, the pair are mortal enemies. This adaptation makes things a bit spicier with Nat and Andie being secretly frenemies. Nat agrees to talk to Pippa in the locker room naked (okay, Patrick Zweig) because everyone has already seen her topless thanks to Andie leaking one of her nudes in high school.
Later, Ravi hatches a brilliant plan: They’ll use his phone to text Emma acting as Nat with a new phone, hoping to squeeze out more intel. “Did a super-weird girl contact you about Andie?” Ravi-as-Nat types. He smirks at Pip. Okay, now I’mblushing. One text leads to another, and Emma asks if Nat told Pip about “Secret Older Guy.” This show was doing so well at realistic teen texting and social-media usage, but now it’s blown it all in one message: “Secret Older Guy” with caps. Really? But it’s forgivable, just this once.
Finally, Pip has an opportunity to get her mind off Andie. For Cara’s birthday, Pippa and Lauren plan a camping trip to a nearby lake, inviting the lads, Zach (Raiko Gohara) and Connor (Jude Morgan-Collie). This gives Pippa — and us, too — some much-needed respite after weeks of investigation. As gripping as it is to solve a murder, these carefree moments with Pippa’s friend group bring some much-needed youthful energy to the series. They scream while crashing into the lake, reveal secret crushes (yes, Ravi is mentioned), take swigs from bottles of tequila, and play the Charlie Charlie challenge in the dark. The only time Andie Bell is mentioned is when the boys offer to tell ghost stories.
But that respite can’t last forever. When the kids start to settle in for bed, a rogue flashlight off in the distance scares them into hysterics. Moments later, a folded note appears in Pip’s sleeping bag: “STOP DIGGING PIPPA,” it reads.
Lack of commas aside, whoever wrote this note clearly doesn’t know how bad an idea it is. What have we learned about Pippa? Any time she’s told to stop, she goes even further. If anything, this note drags Pip out of her camping slumber and back into the thick of Andie Bell and Sal Singh. The carefree flirting and the day at the lake were nice while they lasted — now, it’s back to sleuthing. This episode maintains a perfect 50-50 balance between mindless friend-group drama and actual murder drama.
Using the same texting technique as earlier, Ravi and Pip pretend to be Emma texting Nat now. They ask to meet at the train station — a solid idea, until Nat sees Dumb and Dumber waiting for her and does a 180 right back to her car. Before she can leave, Ravi steps in with an attempt to actually connect with Nat; again, he’s the ideal foil for Pip’s confrontational style. For a minute, Ravi’s emotional approach actually works. Nat reveals the Secret Older Guy was Max Hastings.
But Pippa always has to mess things up, doesn’t she? Pip ditches Ravi (ugh) and returns to Max Hastings’s house (double ugh). Did she not learn last time that Max is to be avoided at all costs? The problem here is that Ravi is quite fond of Max, Sal’s best friend. He’s too biased to be involved. It’s actually rather nice that Max isn’t a one-dimensional d-bag. He’s a bit more fleshed out: Max is so suave that he convinced people like Ravi, Sal, and Naomi that he’s worth befriending.
Pippa snoops through Max’s room while he showers, and she finds a lewd pic of Andie Bell stashed in one of his books. Before Pip can make a run for it, Max emerges from the bathroom. Oh, Pippa. You wouldn’t be in this situation if you had simply agreed with Ravi and gone home. Let this be a lesson: Always listen to Ravi.
But the tension between evil Max and goody-goody Pippa makes my heart do backflips. This is tense. Pip accuses Max of sleeping with Andie, but he only cackles at that assumption. He wasn’t sleepingwith Andie. He was buying drugsfrom Andie; she worked for a dealer. Pippa’s mind is blown, and Max tells her there’s only one way to figure out who the dealer is. She’ll need to find him at some event called a “calamity party.” Pip’s mind flashes to techno music, flashing lights, and drinks sloshing around on a dance floor, which can mean only one thing: Our next episode is about to go full Euphoria.
• Pippa’s backstory is a little confusing, but hints are scattered throughout the first two episodes. Although she calls the man living in her house “Dad,” Victor Amobi (Gary Beadle) is not Pippa’s biological father. Pip’s dad died when she was really little, and her mom remarried soon after. She had another kid, Pip’s half-brother, Josh (Kamari Loyd), with Victor.
• Lauren reveals that Cara has a crush on a girl named Ruby. Pip is upset because Cara didn’t tell her. Well, Pip, maybe you shouldn’t have made a nearly friendship-ending mistake right off the bat in this EPQ!
• We find out Nat is the younger sister of police officer Dan da Silva. Dan is the super-handsome guy who stole Pippa’s nose at the Hastings party. He worked on the Andie case and really gives Pip the heebie-jeebies.
A FLOODED FARM, A HAUNTED ISLAND AND A CEMETERY ALMOST LOST TO TIME LAKE. HARTWELL HARBORS ITS FAIR SHARE OF LEGENDS AND TODAY OUR PEYTON FURTADO EXPLORED ONE HERSELF. SHE TAKES US TO CEMETERY ISLAND AND IT’S ALL NEW AT SIX. WHEN YOU HEAD OUT TO LAKE HARTWELL, YOU MIGHT BE GOING FOR A DAY ON THE BOAT, A DAY IN THE WATER. BUT WHAT A LOT OF FOLKS DON’T REALIZE IS THERE’S SO MUCH HISTORY HERE. JUST BELOW THE SURFACE AND IN SOME AREAS JUST ABOVE. HERE LIES LAKE HARTWELL. IT WAS FULLY FORMED BY A DAM IN 1962. ITS GLISTENING SURFACE IS A WATERY GRAVE FOR FARMS, HOMES, EVEN AN ENTIRE TOWN. THERE’S A LOT OF HISTORY THAT’S UNDERNEATH THAT LAKE, FOR SURE. AND CEMETERY ISLAND. IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG. THE ISLAND USED TO BE PART OF HARRIS PLANTATION FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS BEFORE THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS BUILT LAKE HARTWELL DAM, THEY WOULD HAVE TO EITHER SELL OR FORFEIT THEIR LAND FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THESE LAKES, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ELECTED TO SELL THEIR LAND. A LOT OF THEM WAS VOTED TO STAY. THERE’S A VERY FAMOUS STORY OF A WOMAN WHO ACTUALLY THREATENED THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS. YOU KNOW, SURVEYORS AND LAND BUYERS WITH A GUN, WHILE OTHER LANDOWNERS MOVED THEIR BURIAL GROUNDS. THE HARRIS’S HAD THIS HIGH GROUND. THE FAMILY PLOT, MADE UP OF 59, MARKED GRAVES, WITH LESS THAN 20 OF THEM ACTUALLY HAVING STONE MARKERS, WHICH INDICATES TO ME THAT THERE WERE QUITE A LOT OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE BURIED THERE BECAUSE THE HARRIS’S HAD A LARGE PLANTATION, IT WAS SOME OF THE AREA’S ONLY HISTORY TO BE PRESERVED. IT’S MYSTERY INSPIRING. THE NAME GHOST ISLAND. I HAVE HEARD IT MENTIONED, UM, SEVERAL TIMES THAT THERE WAS LEGENDS ABOUT A WITCH THAT WOULD THAT WOULD ROAM AROUND ON THE ISLAND, PEOPLE SEEING SHAPES AND FIGURES AND SHADOWS, THE TIDE DRAWING IN ADVENTURE SEEKERS IS KIND OF COOL. IT’S LIKE REALLY OLD TOO. AND SENDING OUT YOUNG HISTORY BUFFS TO SHARE THE ISLAND’S HISTORY AND MYSTERY. AT LAKE HARTWELL, I’M PEYTON FURTAD
Ghost Island: A South Carolina lake history and mystery
Updated: 12:39 AM EDT Jun 3, 2024
In South Carolina, a flooded farm, a haunted island, and a cemetery almost lost to time. Lake Hartwell harbors its fair share of legend. Cemetery Island is no exception.The lake was fully filled in 1962, the glistening surface a watery grave for farms, homes, and even an entire town.”There’s, there’s a lot of history that’s underneath that lake for sure,” said Dustin Norris with the Anderson County Museum.And Cemetery Island is just the tip of the iceberg. The island used to be part of the Harris Plantation for more than 200 years before the Army Corps of Engineers built the Lake Hartwell Dam.”They would have to either sell or forfeit their land, for the construction of these lakes,” said Joshua Johnson with the Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina. “And a lot of people elected to sell their land. A lot of them wanted to say, there’s a very famous story of a woman who actually threatened the Corps of Engineers, you know, surveyors and land buyers with a gun.”While other landowners moved their burial grounds, the Harrises had high ground. The family plot has 59 graves.”With less than 20 of them actually having stone markers, which indicates to me,” Johnson said, “that there were quite a lot of enslaved people buried there because the Harris’s had a large plantation.”It was some of the area’s only history preserved above the surface, the cemetery inspiring the name “Ghost Island.””I have heard it mentioned, several times, that there were legends about a witch that would roam around on the island,” said Norris.Johnson added, “People seeing shapes and figures and shadows or hearing voices out there.”The tide regularly draws in adventure seekers and sends out young history buffs to share the island’s history and mystery.
, S.C. —
In South Carolina, a flooded farm, a haunted island, and a cemetery almost lost to time. Lake Hartwell harbors its fair share of legend. Cemetery Island is no exception.
The lake was fully filled in 1962, the glistening surface a watery grave for farms, homes, and even an entire town.
“There’s, there’s a lot of history that’s underneath that lake for sure,” said Dustin Norris with the Anderson County Museum.
And Cemetery Island is just the tip of the iceberg. The island used to be part of the Harris Plantation for more than 200 years before the Army Corps of Engineers built the Lake Hartwell Dam.
“They would have to either sell or forfeit their land, for the construction of these lakes,” said Joshua Johnson with the Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina. “And a lot of people elected to sell their land. A lot of them wanted to say, there’s a very famous story of a woman who actually threatened the Corps of Engineers, you know, surveyors and land buyers with a gun.”
While other landowners moved their burial grounds, the Harrises had high ground. The family plot has 59 graves.
“With less than 20 of them actually having stone markers, which indicates to me,” Johnson said, “that there were quite a lot of enslaved people buried there because the Harris’s had a large plantation.”
It was some of the area’s only history preserved above the surface, the cemetery inspiring the name “Ghost Island.”
“I have heard it mentioned, several times, that there were legends about a witch that would roam around on the island,” said Norris.
Johnson added, “People seeing shapes and figures and shadows or hearing voices out there.”
The tide regularly draws in adventure seekers and sends out young history buffs to share the island’s history and mystery.
The city of Greenville’s public utility apologized for a widespread outage on Saturday, March 23, 2024, whose cause remained a mystery hours after power was restored.
Most homes and businesses in the city, which has a population of about 90,800, lost electricity Saturday morning, police said in a series of alerts Saturday morning on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Power was restored within about two hours, police said.
Major power outage in the NC33/264 corridor of the city. @GUC_Info is aware. Officers are being directed to numerous intersections to direct traffic. A reminder, all unattended intersections without power should be treated as a four-way stop. pic.twitter.com/5Srr9q9Ff4
Greenville is roughly about 85 miles southeast of Raleigh and home to East Carolina University, a 1,600 acre public institution.
Police first reported the outage at 10 a.m.
“Major power outage in the N.C. 33/264 corridor of the city,” police initially said on X.
“Officers are being directed to numerous intersections to direct traffic,” the alert by police continued. “A reminder, all unattended intersections without power should be treated as a four-way stop.”
Eight minutes later, police said the outage extended beyond the N.C. 33/264 corridor.
“Much of city impacted,” police posted on X at 10:08 a.m. “Please continue to treat all intersections as a four way stop.”
At 11:15 a.m., police said utility crews estimated restoration could take 30 minutes to several hours. “Already restored in some areas,” police said on X.
An hour later, Greenville Utilities said all residential customers had power back.
No update on cause
“Crews are now focused on industrial customers,” the utility posted on X.
At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, crews continued to investigate the cause, the utility posted on X. “And we have no update on the cause at this time,” the utility posted. “We apologize for any inconvenience our customers may have experienced due to this outage.”
168,000 customer connections
Greenville Utilities is owned by the residents of the city but operates under a separate charter issued by the North Carolina General Assembly, according to the Greenville Utilities Commission website.
The utility provides electricity, water, sewer and natural gas to the city and 75% of Pitt County, with a combined total of nearly 168,000 customer connections.
The utility did not say how many homes and businesses lost power and did not immediately return a message on Saturday from The Charlotte Observer.
This story was originally published March 23, 2024, 6:16 PM.
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Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
Explore the world of love through a variety of lenses. Here’s a collection of powerful films that each portray love and romance in a unique way, spanning multiple genres including drama, comedy, fantasy, animation, and sci-fi.
“Cinema is a mirror by which we often see ourselves.”
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Movies give us the opportunity to explore major themes in life in a meaningful and profound way.
A powerful film can lead to a better understanding of your own experiences. It can communicate thoughts and emotions that may have been challenging to express; and, at times, completely reshape our perspective on life.
For better or worse, movies play a pivotal role in shaping our beliefs and map of reality. We pick up ideas through films, sometimes absorbed at a very young age, and those ideas find their way into our daily lives influencing our choices and perspectives.
Filmmakers understand the transformative power of cinema, purposely using it to shake up people’s consciousness. The goal of a solid film is to create an experience that leaves you a different person by the end of it.
As viewers, it’s essential to be aware of a film’s effects both emotionally and intellectually. Often, the movies that linger in our thoughts long after watching are the most impactful and life-changing.
Here’s a collection of classic films about love and romance. Each movie has had a lasting influence on audiences in one way or another. It’s an eclectic list that spans multiple genres, including drama, comedy, animation, fantasy, mystery, and sci-fi.
Titanic (1997)
James Cameron’s epic tale blends love and tragedy against the historical backdrop of the Titanic’s sinking in 1912. The film weaves a captivating narrative of a forbidden romance blossoming amidst a natural disaster.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
In this mind-bending story, a man attempts to erase the memories of a lost love using cutting-edge technology, only to find fate conspiring to bring the couple back together repeatedly. The film explores the complexities of memory, love, and destiny.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Disney’s classic adaptation of the French fairy tale is celebrated for its beautiful animation and memorable songs. The film goes beyond appearances, illustrating the transformative power of true love.
Her (2013)
Set in a near-future world, “Her” tells the unconventional love story of a lonely man who forms a deep connection with his computer’s operating system. The film delves into themes of technology, loneliness, and the nature of human connection.
Before Sunrise (1995)
Richard Linklater’s film follows two young tourists who meet on a train in Europe and share an unforgettable night in Vienna. The movie explores the transient nature of connections and the profound impact of brief encounters.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Sofia Coppola’s film features a washed-up American celebrity and a young woman forging an unexpected bond in Tokyo. “Lost in Translation” navigates themes of loneliness, connection, and self-discovery.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
An Italian filmmaker reflects on his past and learns how to channel his love in a different and creative way through his art and craftsmanship.
Past Lives (2023)
Two childhood friends reconnect after years apart, seeking to unravel the meaning behind their enduring connection. The film explores the complexities of friendship, time, and shared history.
Set in a dystopian future, “The Lobster” challenges societal norms by presenting a world where individuals must choose a romantic partner within 45 days or face transformation into an animal. The film satirizes the pressure to conform in matters of love.
Annie Hall (1977)
Woody Allen’s classic romantic comedy is a hilarious and heartfelt movie that explores neurotic love and the psychological obstacles we commonly face in marriage and long-term relationships.
Your Name. (2016)
A masterful anime that combines elements of science fiction, fantasy, and romance. It centers on a mysterious connection between a boy and girl who swap bodies, learn about each other’s lives, and search to find each other in real life.
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
John Cassavetes’ uncomfortably raw and dramatic portrayal of the profound impact of mental illness on marriage and family, navigating the complexities with unflinching honesty.
The Fountain (2006)
Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” explores love and mortality through three interconnected storylines spanning different time periods. The film delves into themes of eternal love and the quest for immortality, providing a visually stunning and emotionally resonant experience.
Scenes From a Marriage (1974)
Legendary director Ingmar Bergman’s deeply incisive and detailed chronicle of a rocky marriage’s final days.
Choose one movie and analyze it
Each of these films offers a different perspective on love while also pushing the boundaries of cinema and story-telling.
It’s fun to compare each story: How did the couples meet? What defined “love” for them? What obstacles did they face? Did the relationship work out in the end or not? Why?
While films are often seen as just a source of entertainment or healthy escapism, they can also be an avenue for self-improvement and growth.
The “Movie Analysis Worksheet” is designed to make you think about the deeper themes behind a film and extract some lessons from it that you can apply to your life.
Watch with a friend and discuss
If you don’t want to do the worksheet, just watch one of the movies with a friend (or loved one) – then discuss it after.
Watching a film together is an opportunity to share a new experience. It can also spark up interesting conversations. This is one reason why bonding through movies is one of the most common ways we connect with people in today’s world.
Which film will you check out?
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The central mystery in True Detective: Night Country seems easy when the credits roll on episode 1. It’s not that viewers already have the answer, but it at least feels like we can see all the puzzle pieces in front of us. That is, until episode 2. The second, even better episode of Night Country deepens the season’s central mystery with clever world-building and the most disgusting and disturbing ice sculpture on television.
If True Detective: Night Country is about anything so far, it’s about Ennis. More than a little town in Alaska with the nighttime that lasts days, Ennis is a place that’s simultaneously peaceful and terrifying. Rose’s (Fiona Shaw) description of the town to Navarro (Kali Reis) seems close to perfect: a place where the universe comes apart at the seams. It’s a description that takes the strangeness of this world head-on but hints at the softer side of the town, too: The dead find their way back in Ennis (sometimes because they want you to join them). But Ennis is also the kind of town that feels careful and handmade; the seams are wearing like a well-loved toy, not tearing like cheap stitching from a factory.
It’s a beautiful and layered description, but it’s also one that clues us in to what the show is doing. Things here are supernatural, sure; something’s clearly afoot. But that doesn’t mean that zombies roam Ennis or that a quick seance will clear this whole mess up. The dead in Ennis are like the ice: It’s always there, but sometimes it shifts a little, so you’ll notice it. And neither one is giving up its secrets easily.
Episode 2 opens by unveiling the season’s central mystery: a frozen pile of the corpses of the Tsalal scientists, an introduction that comes with some pitch-black comedy involving a grisly hand-breaking that you have to laugh at just to break the tension. True Detective has a grand history of gruesome crime scenes that are gorgeous in their own dark-hearted way, but this is easily the series’ masterpiece so far. The frozen corpsicle is as grotesque as it is beautiful. It’s disfigured and horrible, each body with its own bizarre self-inflicted wounds, equally inexplicable and begging for some detailed reveal that might show us how any of this could have happened. The whole thing, sitting in the middle of an ice rink, a triumph of set dressing and design, looks like it could contain an infinite number of secrets and details, if only you had the misfortune to look at it for too long.
Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO
One of the show’s most brilliant and subtle strokes, though, is one that comes outside of the newly forever-cursed ice rink when Danvers (Jodie Foster) interrupts a classroom to ask her former booty call what exactly it is that Tsalal does. For the deaths of these scientists to merit something as extreme and seemingly otherworldly as their frozen remains would indicate, it seems perfect that their investigation was into something as utopian as the description Danvers gets. A cure-all, hidden away under millions of years of ice. A perfectly solvable puzzle, if only the ice would reveal its mysteries. The explanation makes perfect sense to Danvers; it’s her new burden too, after all.
And fittingly, she too turns to science to sort out her frozen puzzle. She and Pete (Finn Bennett) trot out all the classics that scientists have used for the Dyatlov Pass incident: paradoxical undressing, wild animals, some kind of invisible but natural force like gas or radiation. Not a single one sticks.
But the show’s too smart to let not having an answer defeat Danvers. She’s stubborn enough to stick to the case, and fight for it, but she’s not too stubborn to admit she needs Navarro’s help to figure it out. And with mysterious tattoos of spirals older than the ice, and a trailer full of creepy dolls, the show finally lets its two main detectives team up.
Technically, True Detective: Night Country’s second episode is mostly just table setting, getting our detectives together, laying out the facts and their complications, the oddities and their halfhearted explanations. But the show plays all this setup like Ennis finally boiling over. It’s a town at the edge of both the spiritual and physical worlds, and now it’s breaking open, little by little, under the weight of poison water and mine protests. And True Detective: Night Country is clearly eager to show us the secrets under the fragile ice of Ennis.
Harvest Island pitched itself as a horror farming life-sim, which immediately grabbed my attention. Another island farmer with some seriously spooky potential this October? Sign me up, am I right? Well, unfortunately, while I had high hopes for this game, I’ve struggled to find genuine enjoyment in my experience. Don’t get me wrong, the concept is great! I’m sure there will be people out there who enjoy this game. However, the execution feels a bit… lacking, for me personally, especially in comparison to recent competitors, which I’ll explain further below.
Harvest Island takes a narrative approach, placing you in the role of Will, a farming boy who lives with his father and younger sister, Samantha. Right from the get-go I was excited to see these interactions of dialogue, as powerful sibling bonds are some of my favorite dynamics in video games — think Sean and Daniel from Life is Strange 2, Yara and Lev from The Last of Us Part II, and most recently, Carmine and Kieran from Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Teal Mask DLC. However, I soon found myself slightly irritated by the first interaction between Will and Samantha. To be fair, this was not through their dialogue, but instead through repetitive sound effects.
You see, Samantha is excited to join her big brother on his adventure to the Island, and won’t stop jumping around as she speaks to him. But, each time she jumps around in place, a rather loud sound effect plays. On repeat. For the entire duration of the scene. I suppose this means she was certainly nailing the role of the ‘annoying little sister’ if not anything else.
Image Source: Yobob Games via Twinfinite
By the end of this first scene, my ears felt as if they were bleeding from the noise of nails on a chalkboard, and I found myself skipping through the last sections of dialogue in a hurry to just get it over with. This may sound a little harsh, but this isn’t exactly a great way to kick off the narrative title that Harvest Island wants to be. That damn jump sound is going to keep me awake at 3 am like a sleep paralysis demon for nights to come.
Sadly, as my progression through Harvest Island continued, these sound effects did not get better, and I soon found myself growing rather sick of them. Half the time, it felt like somebody was just memeing around with Discord soundboard, and this became such an irritation to me that I had to dramatically lower sound effects in the menu, before turning them off completely. Honestly, the experience without them felt much better when I didn’t have the aggressive noise of a chicken clucking or a loud cow’s moo every time I pet or interact with a farm animal.
The soundtrack of background music for Harvest Island is actually quite enjoyable, which is why I found the sound effects to be such a shame; they were almost intruding on the calming tone that the music is trying to set.
On a more positive note, the graphics do have a nice charm to them that is more than worth mentioning. While the pixel art is nothing too modern looking, or extremely detailed or vibrant, this title takes on a slightly different approach. Instead, Harvest Island utilizes more dull tones with the majority of the environment remaining static, bringing a familiar nostalgia to old RPG games from within the GBA-NDS era.
This continues in the art for the character portraits, showcasing Will and Samantha in various poses and expressions. These portraits are very nicely stylized, and admirable, almost reminding me of elder Fire Emblem character portraits. I think the character designs, though perhaps a bit simplistic, are entirely suitable to the world in which Harvest Island has created, as they did seem to look and feel right at home in their environment.
Diving deeper into the characters, I really wanted to like Will and Samantha. Truly, I so badly tried to like them. While I did find temporary moments of joy in their presence, such as Will’s sleepyhead nature (relatable), or the scene where they both yell “HELLO GOATS!” to help Samantha get over her fear, for the most part, I found the entire family dynamic rather dysfunctional and insufferable.
Image Source: Yobob Games via Twinfinite
Right from the moment the story kicks off, Will seems to be under extreme stress from his father, tasked with the immense pressure of delivering the Harvest Offerings and completing chores without screwing things up. He’s constantly lashing out at his little sister in mean, hurtful comments due to this pressure, because he’s terrified of disappointing and angering his father. In return, this causes Samantha to retaliate with the same remarks towards her big brother, creating a rather toxic and unenjoyable environment.
I lost count of the number of times they told each other that they hated one another within my first two hours of gameplay, and while I understand that sibling relationships can undoubtedly be turbulent from time to time, I did find this to ruin the ambiance the farm offers. I came here to work hard and explore a spooky island with a dynamic sibling duo, not feeling like I wished there was a way to jump into the world to play babysitter or peacemaker between the two.
Image Source: Yobob Games via Twinfinite
Besides, their father is a total hardass. I mean seriously, he just stays inside all day, warm and cozy, while he throws all of his adult responsibilities onto his children. And then he has the nerve to get mad at them when they inevitably mess things up from time to time? I mean, come on, Grayson; they’re kids! Will is lucky on the rare occasions he makes an effort to teach him new skills, and even then, it’s pretty much just so he can take on more of Grayson’s work, the responsibility of playing a caretaker for his sister being drilled into him.
Harvest Island has attempted to establish itself as a spooky take on Stardew Valley, however, I just can’t seem to find the same level of quality in the title that is present in Stardew. The game feels somewhat unpolished or unfinished as if it needed a bit of extra time and care put towards fine-tuning mechanics, adding in extra features to tie things together, and generally wrapping things up nicely. Sadly, I don’t find Harvest Island to meet the same level of standards that Stardew or even other recent life-sim or pixel RPG games have delivered, such as Moonstone Island or Sea of Stars.
In Harvest Island, the farming tasks grew repetitive and boring rather quickly, and that was with me playing on Story Mode, which reduces the farming grind in favor of narrative. Unlike Stardew Valley and Moonstone Island, Harvest Island lacks a township or community of NPCS in which you can interact and build relationships.
Instead, you’re stuck on the family farm, wrapped up in the iffy relationships between your annoying little sister and intimidating father. While you do get to use Bless to upgrade your farm and craft new tools, it just doesn’t quite carry the same charm as rival titles.
Another thing that I found quite significant frustration in, was the fact that the game will often prompt new Quests, but give no sense of direction in where you’re supposed to head to complete said Quest. For example, one of the tasks listed was ‘take Samantha to the Island’ — yet gave no indication of where the Island was located. This left me wandering around the farm for way too long, getting irritated that every pathway seemed to be locked.
Fifteen minutes later, and I’d finally found my way, by pure luck. Maybe I missed an obvious sign in this scenario, I don’t know, but I did find it irritating that the Quests in your Journal were rather vague. This is fine for fetch quests and crop planting, as they’re fairly self-explanatory. But for main quests that push the story forward? It starts to get a little draining.
Image Source: Yobob Games via Twinfinite
Harvest Island has also marketed itself towards horror, which I think needs to be discussed. Pixel games have proven on multiple occasions that they more than have the capability of delivering great horror titles that are genuinely scary and frightening to play. However, Harvest Island does not deliver this same experience, which is a letdown.
The game definitely has subtle influences through a slightly spooky island, with odd flashes of blood or animal parts here and there, a demon, and a few minor jumpscares. However, it is by no means a ‘horror’ game. Harvest Island is not scary in the same way as other titles can be, and instead, it would likely be better off viewed as a dark mystery RPG mashup. I’ve caught glimpses of a few different titles that have been a much bigger success when it comes to a clash of the horror and life-sim genre, with Pumpkin Panic and Graveyard Keeper immediately coming to mind.
Image Source: Yobob Games via Twinfinite
In comparison to these titles, Harvest Island just falls flat, so the idea of comparing it to Stardew Valley feels almost a bit deceptive. There’s no seasons mechanic, a lack of friendly faces to converse with, and crafting seems to feel quite bare-bones. I can’t help but feel like Harvest Island was completely mismarketed with the references to Stardew Valley, which created false expectations for my playthrough.
The game also appears to still be quite buggy, which created a huge negative impact on my player experience. I found from time to time the camera would have a slight flicker as it struggled to pan following Will and Samantha, and on more than one occasion my game froze up completely, leaving me with no option other than force closing it. Harvest Island also doesn’t have an autosave feature, so every time this happened, I lost a small chunk of progress. These types of bugs make things feel extremely frustrating, and to be quite honest, dull my intentions of wanting to pick it back up.
Harvest Island was a brilliant concept that had massive potential. Unfortunately, the game is held back by its level of polish in certain areas, and being inaccurately marketed. In most scenarios, I’d truthfully find it very hard to recommend this game to fans of life-sims or horror games.
However, I think if I’d known to approach this game with the mindset that I would be going into a dark mystery narrative RPG with a slight nostalgic and retro feeling, I would have found much more enjoyment in the title. The gameplay, dialogue, and story at the beginning of the game are particularly painful, but once things pick up and the mystery starts unfolding, there is quite a bit of intrigue to be found, so the title may still be a worthy contender for fans of this genre.
Sometimes the direction in which the story leads is a bit predictable, but for the most part, there’s a fun sense of exploration, and despite not being particularly ‘horror’ worthy, things still get quite twisted. Unfortunately, the game takes too long to break into its strongest part of the story, which all unravels near the end of the game. This is a shame because while I was not thrilled by my Harvest Island experience, there was a fun sense of subtle terror in the last moments; you just have to drag yourself through the worst parts of the game to get there.
Harvest Island
Reviewer: Grace Black
Pros
The gameplay has a nostalgic charm
Character art is very nicely stylized and lovely to look at
The story, though slow and/or predictable at times, is mostly easy to follow
Two different modes to choose from, a ‘Normal Mode’ and a ‘Story Mode’ that is much lighter on farming, prioritizing the narrative
Cons
Poorly marketed in comparison of how it has been pitched to players, and what it actually is. Loud SFX often drown out the background music, creating disturbance Characters do a poor job of portraying a genuine, feel-good relationship, which creates a bad first impression Quests will often be presented to you with no direction on where to go or how to complete them An abundance of fetch quest style tasks, which can pile up and get exhausting to complete While marketed as having strong horror aspects, very little genuine moments of horror are to be found Game is still quite buggy, which impacts the player experience
Release Date
October 10, 2023
Copy provided by Publisher
About the author
Grace Black
Grace is a writer, digital artist, and character illustrator from New Zealand with a love for fiction and storytelling. Grace has been writing for Twinfinite for seven months and in the games industry for a year. She’s a horror enthusiast, occasional anime enjoyer, and die-hard Ghost-Type Pokemon fangirl. Her favorite video games include Overwatch 2, Life is Strange, The Last of Us, and Pokemon – all of which she will never tire of.
The new murder-comedy Poker Face (on Peacock now) plays a very dangerous game indeed. It walks right up to the line of smugness, of tweeness—maybe it even puts a toe over the edge here and there—before it pulls back. The show is built, in some ways, as a testament to its own cleverness. Which should be irksome, and yet mostly isn’t. That’s a credit to the show’s creator, Rian Johnson, this year best known for writing a directing Glass Onion, and to its salty star, Natasha Lyonne, who wears the show’s quirky, hang-out energy like a comfy vintage suit.
Lyonne plays Charlie, a Nevada casino dweller with a special gift: she can always tell when someone is lying. She once used that to her advantage in gambling, but now she’s trying to stay on the straight and narrow—minus all the booze and cigarettes. But, of course, malfeasance finds her, and Charlie has to go on the lam, keeping one or two steps ahead of her pursuer, played by Benjamin Bratt. As Charlie drives across America, working odd jobs, she keeps stumbling into murder mysteries, which she solves using her unique powers of deduction.
I say mysteries, but they’re not really that. At least not to us in the audience. Like its obvious inspiration, Columbo, Poker Face shows us who did the murder right from the jump. Each episode introduces us to a new crime and a new cast of guest stars—bored twentysomethings working a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, scheming older ladies at a retirement community, a barbecue master who’s had a change of heart about cooking meat and wants to go vegan. The show can be a bit flippant about all the death that Charlie encounters, but it does take its characters seriously. Or, at least, it addresses them thoroughly.
Poker Face has an inviting, humane demeanor. Charlie can be prickly at times, a little rude, a bit blunt. But for the most part, she’s a kind person, cool and decent in the way that recognizes coolness and decency in others and thrives off that common energy. Her unassuming air makes her a surprising detective, which ultimately proves vexing to the many murderers with whom she crosses paths.
The cast of killers and killed is an interesting olio of familiar faces. Chloë Sevigny plays the laid-low lead singer of a one-hit-wonder band, desperate to return to the glow of fame and success. Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson play former 1960s radicals now stuck in the mundanity of their twilight years. Newly minted Oscar nominee Hong Chau plays a friendly trucker, Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows are faded TV stars still nursing old grudges. Everyone seems to relish the opportunity to play around in Johnson’s oddball little world. Should Poker Face get a second season, it will probably have no trouble getting guest stars.
My hope, though, would be that the show maintains its modest scale. The first season, or at least the six episodes I’ve seen, has a pleasing shagginess. It’s slickly made, but not haughty about it. That’s a delicate vibe, one that could easily be disrupted by too much self-impressed showboating. A bit of that is already present—“Look how ingenious this writing is,” the show sometimes seems to say as Charlie goes about unraveling the intricacies of a case. Any more preening flash would throw the whole thing out of whack.
As is, though, Poker Face is groovy entertainment. It’s pretty faithful to its case-of-the-week format, removing any pressure to remember mythology or, really, even character names. It’s easy to watch, to dive in and out of, which is rarer in today’s TV landscape than it should be. That’s all part of Johnson’s throwback intent, and yet he keeps the show free of too much cloying nostalgia. (The retro opening titles in the pilot feel a bit stale, though, so many years after Jackie Brown.) Compared to Glass Onion, Johnson’s over-adorned 2022 film, Poker Face is restrained in its references. It is less reactive to cultural discourse, though there are plenty of amusing, timely allusions.
Lyonne is an actor perhaps uniquely suited to the job of Poker Face, to keeping one foot in the cozy past and the other in the contemporary zeitgeist. As Charlie, she feels both fresh and familiar at once, an old pal who you’ve never seen before. That quality serves this peripatetic show quite well. Lyonne is an invaluable constant as the bodies fall, and that’s the truth.
Given that Cyberpunk 2077 came out nearly two years ago, you might think there’s little left to discover and document ahead of the game’s first and only planned DLC, Phantom Liberty. But right in the heart of Night City lies the beginning of a riddle that has left fans scrambling to unravel the mystery since the hunt began in 2020. It all starts with a single statue and a six-digit alphanumeric sequence: FF:06:B5.
Cyberpunk 2077 players caught on to the FF:06:B5 mystery early on in the game’s life, but the answer has remained frustratingly out of reach despite many elaborate theories. The mysterious six-character sequence is found on a statue where monks can often be seen praying or meditating. The search has involved rigorous number-crunching based on the initial hint, maps that chart the location of repeat instances of the same statue, and deep dives into spiritual concepts and real world history, among other attempts to find the solution. Following the trail is dizzying to say the least. But every step of it is intriguing, even if you’re not sure you’re on a trail to begin with.
Few concrete, undeniable facts and trails have surfaced outside of initial observations, a good chunk of which are documented on r/FF06B5, a subreddit dedicated to cracking the titular mystery (as well as other secrets found in Cyberpunk 2077). Theories and speculation go over the deep end real fast with this mystery, so if you find yourself struggling to keep your head on straight, you’re not alone. As is said in the “Newcomer Sticky” of FF:06:B5’s subreddit, “Without concrete proof that one [theory] is more viable than another, it’s difficult to give this community and newcomers a direction to look.”
No one is certain what the solution is, or if any of the proposed theories and documentation are even on the right track. If you want to get a look at the origin of the mystery for yourself, you can find the first and only truly confirmed “hint” right in Corpo Plaza. Located northwest of the massive roundabout and near the Corpo Plaza apartment, is a statue known to FF:06:B5 mystery hunters as FF:06:B5 Prime “D3.” A multi-armed statue holding a giant sword with two hands, and a sphere in one of its left hands, it has the six-character sequence in bold across the front. It also has a strange forking symbol that many suspect either relates to V’s lifepaths, the branching nature of the game’s story, or even ancient numbering systems. This statue can be found in multiple locations in the city, though not all have the alphanumerical sequence. Miniature versions of the statue, complete with the sequence, also appear in the game’s recently-added apartments that are up for sale.
Screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku
G/O Media may get a commission
Despite the mystery, a few reliable observations and likely starting points have been established by the community:
FF:06:B5, when used as an HTML hex color code, translates to “shocking pink,” or as the community refers to it (and often the mystery itself) “magenta.”
The sequence looks like a portion of a MAC address and/or matches other kinds of code sequences found elsewhere in the game.
NPC monks gather in front of the D3 “Prime” statue. They can be heard chanting as well as repeating one particularly intriguing line of dialog: “My apprentice! Your throat chakra is blocked! Activate the meridians on the roof of your mouth.”
Paweł Sasko, Cyberpunk’s lead quest designer, confirmed that this isn’t a case of smoke where there’s no fire. He acknowledges that it is indeed a mystery worth looking into, likely with a specific meaning and solution—and one he has turned down every opportunity to shed light on, even when asked directly.
There’s also somewhat of a sixth fact to consider: After update 1.5, the text on D3 “Prime” changed from red to yellow. What that could possibly mean is anyone’s guess.
All theories more or less sprout from these confirmable observations. What follows depends which avenue you choose to pursue and how lost in the weeds you’re willing to get. You can check out some of the connected threads in the community’s mind map, which traces not only connections within the game but also connections to works of pop culture and spiritual concepts that exist outside of the game. Anything that can have a number, color, or thematic concept attached to it seems to be up for exploration. Trips through Reddit threads and Discord conversations point to any number of possibilities. Everything from complex readings into spiritually to matching the code to Windings fonts, of all things.
One example of the rabbit hole that can ensue from following a potential lead includes attempting to connect the mysterious “Zen Master” side jobs to FF:06:B5. Given the presence of monks at the D3 prime statue, the monk’s meditation quests seem like a natural place to look. These side jobs involve meeting a lone monk who takes you through a meditative brain dance. When pulled apart for clues, things get a little interesting.
Screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku
As charted out in the mind map, players have figured out that the amount you can choose to donate to the monk after each meditation session increases in order of the Fibonnaci sequence starting at the 12th position. Not only that, but each quest is named after specific works of art such as John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” Rūmī’s “Poem of the Atoms,” and “Meetings Along the Edge,” the title of a piece that appears on the collaborative recording project between composers Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar. These have their own numbers to contribute with release dates, song length, and more. Trailing sets of numbers and thematic relationships seem to be a common end result of many theories and the game is more than happy to provide such speculative fodder.
Occurrences like the Zen Master and the weird math hidden in the details have become the meat and potatoes of intense speculation that blends number crunching with concepts of spirituality with the game’s own lore and references to pop culture. It’s hard to keep track of it all. Does it directly relate to the main FF:06:B5 mystery? Another mystery altogether? Or none at all? While some trains of thought seem more convincing than others, the game is filled with dozens of opportunities to trace lines where there might not have been any in the first place. Yet, it always seems like certain clues are too hard to ignore. Why does one striking in-game ad in particular seem to not sell a specific product (or contain other versions of it as all other ads do, confirmed via datamining)? I found myself wondering why said ad seems to bear some resemblance to the mysterious symbol on the D3 Prime statue and on the jewelry worn by the monks who meet in front of D3 at the same time of day, every day. Am I seeing things or am I on to something?
The scope of the city, the frequent themes of identity and reality woven throughout the game, it all creates a spiral of possible solutions to a weird statute that has been resistant to the most audacious efforts to crack it.
Given the clear esoteric nature of the mystery, others have turned to investigating Misty, her shop, the game’s tarot cards, and all other appearances of religious and spiritual concepts and iconography. The glyph found in Misty’s shop contains strings of numbers and letters that can be connected to form a larger sequence, broken up into pairs similar to FF:06:B5. It also bears resemblance to graffiti found near the final Zen Master quest.
Screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku
The NPC monk line concerning the “throat chakra” seems to also be somewhat promising, as some speculate that the answer to the mystery lies in following the request to “activate the meridians on the roof of your mouth.” A couple of recent posts to the mystery’s subreddit are following patterns of blue, based on the traditional color of the throat chakra and how that matches the giant blue circular glass “roof” that covers a portion of the road in Corpo Plaza.
Despite the impressiveness of the documentation that’s been gathered in pursuit of this mystery, it’s hard not to get discouraged by how many lead to dead ends. And when every little thing in the game can seemingly be related by some extension, it’s easy to start getting paranoid.
Every time I felt like I was ready to give up on one of the possible theories or speculations, there’d be a small connection I’d struggle to dismiss, or documentation of alleged clues that drew lines to other oddities in the game, such as the constant repetition of the “no future” graffiti. But after sifting through so many long strings of speculation and theory, it’s hard not to deny the fun in finding something tucked away in Cyberpunk 2077 that no one’s pieced together yet.
New York, USA, October 31, 2016 (Newswire.com)
– According to Punctuated Publishing, if your real estate agent won’t meet you at a property before conducting an initial in-office consultation, or won’t lead the way down to a house’s basement, don’t take it personally. Recent violence against real estate agents is changing the ways REALTORS® do business, and two new murder mystery novels, actually written by REALTOR®/authors, are underscoring the industry’s inherent dangers in a more subtle and entertaining fashion than recent horrific newspaper headlines.
Much of the focus on dangers facing real estate agents was instigated by the murder of Arkansas-based REALTOR® Beverly Carter back in 2014. That’s what inspired Bernice Gottlieb, an associate broker with William Raveis Legends Realty Group in Irvington, NY, to pen her somber murder mystery, Havoc-on-Hudson. In her author’s note, citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Gottlieb says an average of 70 to 80 reported incidents of rape, robbery and homicide take place each year with real estate professionals. Moreover, since 2008, the number of real estate homicides nationwide exceeded those of police officers killed in the line of duty in that same period, she said.
“An average of 70 to 80 reported incidents of rape, robbery and homicide take place each year with real estate professionals,”
Bernice Gottlieb, Associate Broker, William Raveis Legends Realty Group
Expired Listings, a second, more satiric and kinky real estate murder mystery, was published this past September. Its author, Dawn M. Barclay, an associate broker for Keller Williams Hudson Valley Realty writing as D.M. Barr, says she completed the book’s outline long before Carter was murdered, specifically “as a warning to my fellow agents because I realized the risks inherent in this industry when I first become a REALTOR® back in 1999.” She voices those concerns in the following quote between a fictional agency owner and the detective investigating the ‘Realtor Retaliator’ serial killer in her novel: “Most agents are women, usually very attractive women. We post glamour shots on our signs and business cards and then list every possible way to reach us. Then, how’s this for brilliant, we advertise that we’re going to be alone in an empty house for hours on a Sunday afternoon. We have strangers join us in our cars, or we ride in theirs. We eat food at open houses supplied by God knows who. If we’re not asking for trouble, then I don’t know who is.”
With both actual and fictional dangers highlighting the vulnerabilities of real estate agents, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has published a number of safety guidelines for its 1,500,000+ members. In addition, in an award-winning, consumer-based video titled, “Real Estate Safety and You,” NAR explains to property buyers how agents might interact differently with them than they have in the past. Such precautions include:
· Agents initially meeting new clients at their office, not at properties for sale
· Agents requesting to see identification (Driver’s License) and mortgage prequalification letters at first meet
· Agents driving separately from buyers to see properties (which is also more convenient if one or both parties have appointments directly afterwards.)
· Agent walking behind buyers at showings, and allowing buyers to inspect attics, basements and garages on their own
· Agents only showing vacant houses during daylight hours
· Buyers required to sign in and show identification at Open Houses, which may be staffed by more than one agent. (In fact, Barclay indicates that instead of traditional Open Houses, she hosts ‘Traveling Home Shows,’ where buyers meet several vendors, such as interior decorators, lawyers, contractors, etc., ensuring her safety along with a one-stop shopping experience for buyers.)
As both Gottlieb and Barclay are well aware, real estate violence is far more palatable in thriller novels than in their day-to-day business routines. By educating the public as to why new safety precautions have been put in place, both real estate agents and their clients can enjoy a more pleasurable and safe buying and selling experience.
Havoc-on-Hudson is available at Amazon or other fine book retailers.
