In They Bloom at Night, a red algae bloom engulfs the town of Mercy, Louisiana, following a devastating hurricane. The once-familiar waters are now home to mutated wildlife, creating an eerie atmosphere where the line between the ordinary and the monstrous blurs. At the centre of this unsettling landscape is The Cove, a place where Noon’s life took a tragic turn long before the storm, during a party thrown by her older boyfriend.

Now, as she navigates the increasingly submerged town with her mother, who believes their deceased family members have reincarnated as sea creatures, Noon grapples with her haunting memories. The trauma of that fateful night at The Cove weighs heavily on her, as she buries the truth about her identity, feeling that she is “not in the right shape.”

When Mercy's predatory leader coerces Noon and her mother into capturing a creature threatening the town’s residents, Noon reluctantly teams up with his dangerous daughter and a mix of old and new friends. As another storm looms on the horizon, she must confront her past and decide whether to embrace the monstrous feelings stirring within her.

The novel offers a thought-provoking exploration of destruction and the fragments of life that are worth fighting for. It captures the gut-wrenching horror of both raw emotion and external terrors, all while weaving together themes of climate change, identity, and the complexities of being a lesbian teenager. They Bloom at Night is a haunting and beautifully written tale that challenges readers to contemplate the nature of monstrosity and the good that can arise from chaos.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

a haunting queer ocean horror infused with Vietnamese folklore and finding your place in the world. a hurricane devistates a small town, causing rising sea waters, mutated wildlife and a red algae bloom. when people start to disappear, Nhung is tasked with finding the sea monster responsible. it's eerie and atmospheric and filled with terror from the environment and those who live there. it weaves together climate change, class, gender, queerness, and found family and though this book isn't out for 5 more months, I can't wait for the authors next tale.


thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book which will be published in March 2025