ARC Review: The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala

Ryan La Sala has done it again. Dead of Summer is creepy, campy (C A M P Y), heartfelt, and just plain fun. Think Stephen King meets Holly Jackson with a dash of We Were Liars…but also drag queens, queer joy, and sea monsters. What more could you possibly want in a summer read? Check out our thoughts below and pick up The Dead of Summer so you too can be terrified of the beach!

The Dead of Summer (The Dead of Summer, #1)

by Ryan La Sala
Published by: Push
on September 16, 2025
Genres: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
Bookshop, Audiobook through LibroFM
Goodreads

Stephen King meets Holly Jackson by way of We Were Liars in this action-packed story of queer horror from the acclaimed author of The Honeys!

Two days before...

Ollie Veltman is finally coming home to the quaint island of Anchor's Mercy after a year away while his mom battled cancer. It should be a celebration -- his mom is cancer free, and she's determined to have the best summer ever -- but Ollie's (now ex) best friends think he abandoned them, and he's returning with a lot questions. Because for a place that's perfect on the outside, a secret rots inside. A secret that could explain his mom's illness, and the illness of so many other locals.

Ollie's desperate search for the truth turns life or death when a storm descends upon the island. In its wake, a long-sunken horror rises . . .

Three weeks after...

Ollie is being held in isolation aboard a military hospital ship in the harbor. They say he's a survivor, but they only know half the story. The truth is more dangerous than Ollie ever believed, and he suspects his saviors aren't here to save anyone. Only Ollie can stop what comes next, but that means getting back to Anchor's Mercy before it vanishes below the waves, taking with it everyone he has ever loved.

Review

The story kicks off with Ollie Veltman returning to his hometown, the island of Anchor’s Mercy, after a year away while his mom was fighting cancer. The island seems picture-perfect, until a storm rolls in, a strange sickness starts spreading, and suddenly Ollie is fighting for his life (and everyone else’s). Told partly through Ollie’s POV and partly through mixed media “artifacts,” the book keeps you flipping pages, wondering who (or what) can be trusted.

What makes this book so much fun is how alive the setting feels. Anchor’s Mercy is the kind of place you immediately want to visit, part vacation haven, part drag-queen utopia, part eerie seaside town with a very dark secret. Even as the horror ratchets up, you’ll wish you could sit down at a local brunch spot, gossip with the islanders, and soak it all in (before the coral-zombie apocalypse kicks off, that is. Maybe after, too…can’t be worse than the current affairs in the US).

The monsters? Absolutely terrifying. The friendships? Totally gut-wrenching. The humor? Perfectly timed. Ryan balances camp and dread so well that you’ll be laughing one second and gasping the next. And through it all, the book doesn’t shy away from bigger ideas: what it means to be abandoned, how queer communities survive when systems fail them, and the fierce love that keeps us going.

By the end, I was equal parts thrilled, heartbroken, and desperate for book two. (Because yes, there has to be a book two. My heart can’t take being left here!)

If you’re looking for a queer horror story that’s as thoughtful as it is terrifying, Dead of Summer needs to be at the very top of your TBR. Just maybe don’t read it alone by the ocean.