Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

The sequel to THE DIVINERS.

If you overhear the cool kids saying things like: "Applesauce!" and "don't worry, everything is Jake," and they start wearing "glad rags" to go out somewhere "swanky," you can blame Libba Bray. Because LAIR OF DREAMS so completely takes readers back to Prohibition Era New York City, the time period just might become the new rage.

We find our old friend Evie O'Neill basking in the spotlight's glow as America's Sweetheart Seer and host of her own radio show. She and her pals Sam, Henry, Jericho, Theta, Memphis and Mabel thought the worst was behind them after the events of Knowles End. John Hobbes may be gone, but now it seems a strange sleeping sickness is creeping through the boroughs of the City. People fall asleep and cannot be woken, trapped in their dreams to burn up from the inside out. Men in black abound, there's some guy in a stovepipe hat making trouble and blame for the epidemic is pinned on the residents of Chinatown—where we meet a new Diviner (Ling Chan) who happens to be a dreamwalker like Henry DuBois.

Bray doesn't hesitate to show us the dark side of 1920's America giving us equal heaping doses of fame's glamour, progress' allure, governmental power, fear-born hate and prejudice, as well as an overflowing melting pot of cultural superstitions. As she expands each character's story, she weaves the mysteries of Uncle Will's museum and Sam's missing mother with Henry's secret not-so-forgotten love, and Memphis' hidden powers. Each Diviner plays an integral part, but Bray doesn't simply connect the dots between their tales. She carefully strings each pearl, reeling us closer with every one until we are as deep in it as Evie herself, and just as unable to escape. It's an epic task, juggling all the narratives and multiple mysteries, but Bray doesn't just succeed at it, she points to the upper deck and makes the grand slam look easy.

Lush with flappers and Follies, graveyards and speakeasies, hidden horrors in subway tunnels, and a sprawling cast of characters it'd be the berries to hang with, LAIR OF DREAMS is packed with moments so terrifying you seriously might not want to read it before bed — in fact, LAIR OF NIGHTMARES might have been a better title (not really). 

But if you're looking for a spooky Halloween read, or want to take a walk in a dreamworld where anything could happen, LAIR OF DREAMS is the Cat's Pajamas. You know, if that cat had long, craggy teeth and blood-red eyes.