IN B’ TWEEN

In Banerjee’s supernatural thriller, family devotion collides with dark magic.

Narrated in part by Priya, a mother-turned-spirit struggling to protect her children from beyond, the story (set in India and the United States) follows Leda, a compassionate detective and friend of Priya’s children, and Sonya, Priya’s daughter, a young woman caught in the lure of dark forces. Their fates intersect in the wake of a malevolent curse tied to a fiendish sorcerer named Dev—also referred to as “the fiend”—with a distinctive familiar (“An ash bat, a bat made of ash, was here a little while ago,” Leda warns early on). The tension escalates when a mark on Leda’s wrist begins to move like a living bat, signaling Dev’s growing power. Her attempts to help lead her into increasingly perilous encounters (there’s a chilling moment when she awakens after an attack: “Where am I?” she gasps, blood streaking her face). Priya—watching helplessly as a spirit—laments this growing nightmare plaguing her children and the woman trying to save them, asserting “[Dev] must be crushed.” Sonya, once bright and loving, becomes mysteriously entangled with Dev, her loyalties shifting as she acts under an ominous influence. (During one yoga session, she is described as “expressionless, like she knew what she was doing but was remorseless.”) Her transformation leaves those around her questioning whether she has been corrupted or is sacrificing herself to protect others. The author grounds the narrative in the quiet grief people carry with them. In one affecting sequence, Leda’s husband, Patrick, reveals a devastating heartbreak: “We lost our baby.” The novel’s emotional moments reinforce its core theme of love persevering despite supernatural cruelty. Banerjee’s prose is vivid and fast-paced, rich with cultural details and suspense. The characters’ motivations can grow tangled as the supernatural plot thickens, but the story’s ingenuity, heartfelt relationships, and narrative ambition combine to deliver a compelling and original paranormal thriller.

A vivid paranormal mystery that will haunt readers long after the final page.