If R. L. Stine does a blurb for something warning readers it's creepy, I'm gonna read it. And he was not lying. Could I explain exactly why this was creepy? No. Was it? Definitely.

Willow feels called to Clifford Island in the wake of her son's death. She's searching for meaning in her life, & the mysterious island is the perfect distraction from her grief. There's nothing about it online, & when she arrives everyone seems to be stuck in the 90s, with no modern technology, media, or fashions.

Lily is a teen who's grown up on Clifford, & she's ready to leave after graduation, by any means necessary. She's over the strict rules of the island & the superstitious other citizens. She's more than happy to indulge Willow's curiosity when it comes to the local legends.

Harper is Willow's brother, & after she's been missing for 6 weeks, he comes to Clifford to try to track her down. The islanders insist she left weeks ago. The more Harper finds out about the island & what his sister was doing here, the more concerned he grows.

This is a horror book, so obviously the legends aren't just legends. There's a reason the island is stuck in 1994, why people do the same thing every day, a reason why everyone clamps their curtains shut at night, & a reason why information on Clifford disappears as soon as it's posted online. It's in the woods, & it's hungry.

This story is told through varying POVs, mixed media, & multiple timelines--we read Willow's POV as she approaches the date of her disappearance, & Harper's POV as he investigates it after until they meet in the middle. It's supplemented with recorded interviews, text messages, letters, & articles. The slow burn builds a lot of eerie tension here, & the depiction of grief was very well-done. I will say I found the build-up to the reveal to be scarier than the actual reveal, but "Dead Eleven" definitely captured that nostalgic feeling of being a kid & just KNOWING there's a monster outside your house, but being unable to make yourself look.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.