Beholder: A slightly cluttered but still entertaining and well-written supernational yarn.

      Beholder, by Ryan La Sala, is a YA horror story that checks a lot of boxes and taps into a lot of creepy fears, including giant spiders, mirrors and what looks back at you from them, the super-rich and the secret societies they inhabit, and the New York art scene? The elements may seem disparate and last part might seem a curious setting for a horror novel, but La Sala ultimately ties them all together fairly well in a creepy if not at times cluttered supernatural horror story.

            Our protagonist, Athan, is the soul survivor of a massacre that takes place at a high society party, one in which the guests and their dismembered parts are assembled in odd shapes. Athan, now a prime suspect, discovers his beloved grandmother, whom he lives with, is also missing, and now he needs to find her and uncover the mystery of what happened tha night at the party. His ensuing quest, aided by an enigmatic young man named Dom, is both a murder mystery, an unraveling of his family history, including the death of his parents, and delves deep into New York high society and a mysterious family friend named Uhler, who is connected to both boys. Oh, and it also turns out Athan and his family have special abilities, his in particular is whenever he looks into a mirror, he can see what it has seen, rewinding the past like a video tape, but he’s afraid to do this, for when he does, he knows there’s something dark behind it, something with many eyes and legs.

            If it sounds like a lot, it kind of is. The various plot points and the slow unraveling of Athan’s family history can be hard to keep track of at times. La Sala ultimately pulls everything together in a more or less satisfying way. The book could probably have benefitted from more information about Athan’s family history and the evil that lurks behind the mirrors, because we don’t really get enough of both. A large subplot is Athan’s partnership and ultimate attraction to Dom, a young man who is also connected to Uhler.        

            The various elements combine in a climax that is satisfying and made me wanting more. La Sala is a good writer who characterizes well, has a good grasp of creepy tropes, and continues to portray positive LGBTQ relationships. A decent read for Spooky Season, it just could have used a little more spooky.