The Sacrifice Box

Starred review from June 4, 2018
During the summer of 1982, five unlikely friends—Sep, Arkle, Lamb, Hadley, and Mack—stumble upon a strange stone box, and to memorialize their time together, they each agree to leave something important to them inside it. They establish three simple rules: “Never come to the box alone. Never open it after dark. Never take back your sacrifice.” Four years later, none of the original group has remained friendly. But when dead things begin to reanimate, and those sacrificed items make a surprising return, the group realizes that someone has broken the rules, and it’s up to them to fix things. Stewart (Riverkeep) again creates an atmospheric coming-of-age story with brilliantly executed elements of horror and comic relief. He weaves in moments of laugh-out-loud, almost absurdist humor to balance the story’s most frightening aspects, all the while carefully structuring a tale about growing up and leaving childhood behind. Ages 12–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency.