I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten.

The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive.

Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she's losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing.

Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she has never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.

When Key, her best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, Avery is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanien’kéha:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever…or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back.

Short and Sweet Review

In the small town of Crooks Falls the black water is a local legend. When Avery goes on a run she finds the black water and since then she can feel it following her, she can smell it, and see it flooding things. People start to go missing and Avery knows it’s the black water, she’s heard about the black water from her Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) relatives, but she didn’t understand them. When Avery’s best friend Key is taken by the black water she turns to her relatives and the Elders for help, but she has to make a choice between saving Key or saving the town.

The Unfinished was a captivating read. Avery is our main character and she’s determined but also not sure about certain things in life, we learn that she’s Mohawk but she doesn’t really connect with her culture, which becomes an integral element to this story. When Avery comes across the black water things start to change, she can just tell it’s always around. Key and Avery have been friends for a while and seeing how Avery is struggling he decides to go in the forest and find the black water, and he ends up going missing. We see Avery and her other friend Stella do research to learn more about what’s going on and even though she doesn’t want to Avery has to ask the Elders for help. I thought it was interesting to see how the black water worked, it was hungry and it was able to make people passive and eventually have them act as zombies. When Avery would ask about the black water to certain people they would act like they didn’t know why it was dangerous but when she went to the Elders they were very evasive. We learn that Avery could either choose the town or Key and I was rooting for her to save Key. I thought their friendship was great and we could see that they were meant to be more than friends. I enjoyed seeing how Avery started to connect with her Kanyen’kehá:ka heritage and I liked learning about it too, the glossary at the end of the book was a nice touch.

Overall, The Unfinished was a great debut, it has elements that make it a great paranormal story and it’s also different enough that you won’t predict what’ll happen next. This is a book you want to finish in one sitting and I would recommend it for anyone looking for a book with subtle horror elements but is also a breath of fresh air.