Oasis by Katya de Becerra Pages: 320
Published by Imprint on January 7, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Thrillers & Suspense, Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural, Mysteries & Detective Stories
Source: eARC from Publisher
In this young adult thriller for fans of Lost and The Twilight Zone, a group of teens are saved when they come across a mysterious oasis. But who will save them from the oasis?
Alif had exciting summer plans: working on her father’s archeological dig site in the desert with four close friends ... and a very cute research assistant. Then the sandstorm hit.
Their camp wiped away, Alif and the others find themselves lost on the sands, seemingly doomed ... until they find the oasis. It has everything they need: food, water, and shade—and mysterious ruins that hide a deadly secret. As reality begins to shift around them, they question what’s real and what’s a mirage.
The answers turn Alif and her friends against each other, and they begin to wonder if they’ve truly been saved. And while it was easy to walk into the oasis, it may be impossible to leave ...
An Imprint Book“De Becerra’s haunting supernatural thriller will stick to readers’ skin long after the final page is turned... Suspense, gore, spooky imagery, and creepy plot developments come through via bloodcurdling nightmares, group hallucinations, and uncontrollable desires and obsessions.” —Booklist
“de Becerra successfully builds a fraught tension throughout the book that mirrors the characters’ feelings as reality leaves them behind . . . well worth the payoff.” —The Bulletin
Oasis is a young adult supernatural thriller by author Katya De Becerra. I don’t read too many supernatural thrillers, but when I saw that the setting for this one was in an archaeological dig, I was immediately all in! I love the setting and idea for magical and supernatural things to happen at ancient dig sites. It is one of my favorite story premises and one that I don’t see nearly enough. Katya De Becerra’s take on supernatural was fascinating and more than a little terrifying. This book genuinely cheeped me out at points, which is awesome!
In Oasis, we meet our main character Alif, who is very excited to be spending the summer with some of her closest friends, working on her father’s archaeological dig site in the desert. The story starts out at her father’s dig site, but pretty early on a sandstorm hits their camp and wipes everything away. The crew is pretty lost in the desert, until you guessed it…they find the Oasis. And that is when the story really started to pick up in my opinion. The setting of the desert Oasis was fantastically done. I really felt like I was there with the group of friends.
Oasis is a unique story that has a lot going for it. There are great friendships, that really get tested in some ways, and strengthened in others. There is an awesome dig site setting, and the supernatural elements were intriguing and sometimes surprising. The plot itself felt a little surface and slow at some parts, but then really picked up and was quite twisty in other parts. Overall, it balanced out to a good story. One that creeped me out and honestly surprised me at times. The writing in the story took a while to pull me in. The start of the story felt a little surface, but once I was about 25% into the story, I started to get pulled into the tale. And I ended up liking the book more and more as it went on. I think the overall plot of this story would lend itself to the tv screen quite well. I would love to see this turned into a movie or tv series for something like Netflix. If you are a fan of supernatural thrillers that feel fresh, or love dessert archaeological settings like I do, check out the Oasis when it releases on January 7th. I think you will enjoy this one.
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About Katya de Becerra
Katya de Becerra was born in Russia, studied in California, lived in Peru, and then stayed in Australia long enough to become a local. She was going to be an Egyptologist when she grew up, but instead she earned a PhD in Anthropology and now works as a university lecturer and a researcher. Katya is a short version of her real name, which is very long and gets mispronounced a lot. What The Woods Keep was her first novel (out now), which is followed by another standalone Oasis in 2020. She has also authored and co-authored academic articles, book chapters, guest posts and opinion pieces.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 Bookish Resolutions Challenge
- 2020 New Release Challenge
I love that this is a creepy read, sounds right up my alley. Glad you enjoyed it.
It looks like a good read.