I absolutely loved The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, which is one of my favorite reads this year and wanted to dig into Victoria Schwab's other novels. The Near Witch is her very first novel. Less complex than her other book, Schwab's debut novel shares a unique atmosphere weaved in European old folktales. I was quite seduced by the story of a young girl investigating children’s disappearance in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Nature and witchcraft play an important role in the story, and little doubt is left about what is going on, as the culprit shares the book title. The beauty of the story is how Schwab unveils the details, scattering clues along the way. There are no strangers in the town of Near, so everything changes when one morning a mysterious man appears.

Victoria Schwab's world building is truly phenomenal. She is a storyteller and her use of wording is always perfect. She plays with beliefs, urban legends and scary bedtime stories. The Near Witch is a great read for the spooky season ! I was at first doubtful about the audiobook : Heather Wilds ‘voice is wonderful and truly works well with the book, but her choice of narration was a little strange to me at the beginning. Nevertheless, I got used to it after a while and enjoyed the experience.