This is the Mask: A Book Blog

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC of Lauren Lee Smith’s fantastic book The Night Pool!

THIS BOOK. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I requested it. Interesting doesn’t begin to define it. Suspenseful, creepy, disturbing, heartwarming, sad; this book encompasses all of these emotions. Every time I had to put it aside to do something “useful” like feed my teenager or use the bathroom, my fingers were itching to pick it back up. My husband watched a movie on the couch beside me, apparently, and I didn’t even notice.

Smith’s characters are intelligent, fierce, determined women who refuse to sit back and be mute shadows. All are at risk of violence, primarily because they are women: Clara, whose father has hauled her literally across the country, is assaulted along the wagon trail; Haloke is a Nisenan woman whose people are being hunted and driven to death by white settlers and miners; and Mei is a Chinese immigrant whose people are trying to settle and survive in 1800’s California. There is also Texas Ellen, the fearless town madam, and Clementine, the town beauty caught in the grip of something so sinister that the entire town will be changed forever. Lee’s book also features some truly appalling men that reap what they sow.

I rarely give books a full five-star review, but this one deserves no less. It is exciting, mysterious, rather gory, and in parts really lovely. The Night Pool is Lauren Lee Smith’s debut novel. If her debut is this amazing, I cannot wait to see what else she gives us.

The Night Pool will be published August 25, 2026. Visit your local library or bookstore and get a copy!