ARC Review: A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St James

Name: A Box Full of Darkness
Series: Stand Alone
Author: Simone St James
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Format: eARC / Kindle
Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph for the eARC!
Genres: Supernatural Thriller, Horror, Adult
Spice Rating: None

Rating:

Synopsis: Goodreads
Siblings return to the house they fled eighteen years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his haunting request to come home.

Strange things happen in Fell, New York: A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For Violet, Vail, and Dodie Esmie the final straw was their little brother’s shocking disappearance, which started as a normal game of hide-and-seek.

As their parents grew increasingly distant, the sisters were each haunted by visions and frightening events, leading them to leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years. Now after nearly two decades it’s time for a homecoming—because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared.

Review:

First, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Michael Joseph for the copy of A Box Full of Darkness! This is releasing in the UK on 22nd January 2026 in the UK! I haven’t read any of Simone St James before but I have been getting really into my thrillers and wondering if supernatural thrillers were a thing as I wasn’t seeing many of them…

A Box Full of Darkness was a brilliant supernatural thriller! I’ll start with that, because it gave me exactly what I wanted from one. It was spooky, it had the supernatural elements, it kept me on edge and guessing and it ticked all of those boxes! I feel like this is one of those books that I could absolutely see being on the screen as it lends itself very well to that – the writing was descriptive enough that even I had a good idea of what was going on, without taking up too much page time taking away from the thrilling aspects.

Our main characters Violet, Dodie and Vail are a bunch of traumitised siblings. Between their nightmares, nightmare childhood and in some cases nightmare adulthood, things haven’t really been going right for them… And the one thing they all share? Was the traumatic disappearance of their younger brother Ben when he was 6 years old.

I don’t think I was prepared for how atmospheric this was going to be; but when I say I was uneasy and on edge, I mean it. The supernatural element a long with the unrelated nightmares of all three siblings meant that I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was really happening. I felt as clueless as the siblings did while they tried to figure out what happened to Ben. All they really knew for sure was that he disappeared and was most likely dead… confirmed once it’s reported to Violet that the ghost of a young boy has been seen at the property.

I really enjoyed this story, and after finishing it I read a couple of other reviews on the book and found that Simone St James has actually written a book set in Fell previously! So you can bet I’m going to find that book – apparently there are some cross over characters, so I am looking forward to finding out who they are.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the way this story concludes – the ‘ever after’ part was fine, I really liked that, I specifically mean how the mystery surrounding Ben’s disappearnce was resolved. I liked where it was going and the reveals, but it just felt like I was missing another chapter or something at the end. Other than that, I really enjoyed this and this style of thriller! I am definitely going to have to try and look into some more supernatural thiller / horrors!

Thank you again to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the eARC of A Box Full of Darkness bySimone St James. This releases on January 22nd 2026 in the UK!

Reading With Tyler