Night of the Mallrats by Nicolina Torres

 

Title:  Night of the Mallrats

Author:  Nicolina Torres

Narrated by:  Jeremy Carlisle Parker, William DeMeritt, Emma Lysy, Charles Constant, Chris Patton, Craig Jessen, Jade Wheeler, Roman Howell, Rosemary Cline, Aaron Landon

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 23 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the physical book review copy.  Audiobook purchased from Audible.

Did you visit malls as a teen?  Do you still have a mall you shop at?  My mom worked at an eye doctor at our local mall, and I would spend the day there as a teen while Mom worked in the 1990s.  I loved it. That mall is in sad shape today, but my local mall in Northeast Wisconsin is doing great.

Beechnut Mall is about to be torn down in 2024.  A group of five friends reunite and break into the mall to have one last adventure to remember their youth in the 1990s at the malls peak.  They also hope to find clues to the disappearance in 1994 of their friend Beth at the mall and the murder of her boyfriend Ezra on that exact night.  They suddenly find themselves in the past, witnessing the events of the day Beth disappeared in 1994.  Will they finally find out what happened to Beth?

My thoughts on this book:

·       I LOVED the on-point references to the stores of the malls in the 1990s, movies, music, and books.  I loved and read R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike teen horror novels.  I enjoy hearing them referenced and titles that I read and enjoyed.  Reading this book brought me back to that place in time.  I was the exact age of the characters in 1994 so it made this an especially fun read.

·       Jane Austen was also referenced several times.

·       The audiobook had great multicast narration to tell the story including interviews.  I liked that it also showed on the audiobook who the narrator was of each section.

·       The genres were mystery, thriller, time travel, horror, 90’s nostalgia, and LGBTQIA+.

·       It had a dual timeline between 1994 and 2024.

·       There was a sad statement how 1994 was a more innocent time for the characters’ lives as it was before Columbine, 9/11, endless wars, etc.  It made me sad realizing it was a true statement.

·       I liked how the characters are looking back as adults at their teenage choices and realizing they didn’t always make good ones.  Life also did not turn out for them the way they thought it would when they were in high school.

·       All the characters had secrets.

·       The ending surprised me as I kept thinking everything did it.  I’m still thinking about it.

Overall, Night of the Mallrats by Nicolina Torres was a fun time travel mystery with some elements of horror.  This book was made for you if you grew up in the 1990s or are a fan of the era.