The Darkness Greeted Her by Christina Ferko

Penny's abusive father is dead…but she still hears his voice in her head, encouraging her to hurt those around her. She can't go to school or be around her friends or even draw with a sharp pencil without her intrusive thoughts urging her toward violence. Desperate to get a handle on her OCD, she agrees to spend the summer at Camp Whitewood—an exclusive therapy retreat in the woods.

She feels optimistic when she arrives. The other girls all have their reasons for being there, which makes Penny feel a little less alone. But then she starts seeing things that can't possibly be there: the gold watch her father was buried with, his favorite whiskey spilled on her cabin floor...a terrifying figure she calls the Shadow Man looming at the foot of her bed. Penny thinks she is losing her mind, but when a girl goes missing, and is later found dead, it's clear that whatever is happening at Camp Whitewood isn't all in her head.

As the hallucinations become increasingly intense and more girls wind up dead, Penny must work with whoever is left standing to figure out what is real before the Shadow Man uses their traumas against them and claims their lives.

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A summer at an exclusive therapy camp spirals into psychological terror, where your own fears might be the deadliest thing you face.

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Pre-Reading Thoughts

This pitched itself as psychological horror, which is right up my alley. A camp for teens with mental health challenges promised tension, layered trauma, and plenty of personal stakes. I expected unease; I did not expect the claustrophobic, slow-building dread that grips you from page one.

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Post-Reading

As I thought…
The story is intimate and unsettling. Penny’s POV - her intrusive thoughts, OCD, and fear of causing harm - creates a claustrophobic, emotionally charged perspective. The camp setting, with its isolated woods and close quarters, only thickens the tension. The secondary glimpses into the other girls’ pasts are horrifying without ever feeling gratuitous, giving weight to their reactions and fears.

It surprised me by…
How relentless the tension gets. You can almost taste it building, like a slow, heavy fog settling over the woods. The story blurs the line between what’s real and what’s imagined in a way that never feels manipulative - the stakes feel very real, very immediate, and very personal. By the end, fear has fully claimed the space between characters and reader alike.

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Vibe Check

• Colour palette: Dark forest green, charcoal shadows, flickering candlelight

• Soundtrack: Heartbeats, wind through trees, whispering voices

• Season: Summer, but humid and oppressive

• Mood: Taut, panicked, breathless

• Scent: Pine, damp earth, metallic tang

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Music Pairing

🎵 Featured Song: Bury a Friend – Billie Eilish
🎶 Vibe Album: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish
🎧 Artist Recommendation: Chelsea Wolfe

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Tarot Pull

🃏 The Moon – Horror Tarot
Fear, illusion, and the danger of misperceiving reality. Penny’s anxiety and the uncanny happenings at Camp Whitewood echo the Moon’s warning: things are not as they seem, and trusting your senses - or others - comes with risk.

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For fans of

• We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson (for intimate, creeping dread)

• The Institute – Stephen King (for teen-focused horror and isolation)

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Final Thoughts

The Darkness Greeted Her is psychological horror at first glance, but it’s a masterclass in tension and fear. Ferro doesn’t rush the terror; she lets it seep, twist, and claim the woods around her characters. Every fear feels immediate, every hallucination personal. It’s terrifying, layered, and impossible to forget.