Night of the Mallrats/Nicolina Torres
Oct. 6/Harper Perennial
The purported genre Night of the Mallrats by Nicolina Torres is a bit misleading, as is its title. While advertised as a “supernatural horror and time-travel thriller novel,” it’s much more of a mystery saturated with fun 90’s throwback nostalgia and a touch of magic.
And “mallrats?” The night that changed their lives may have occurred in a mall, but to call our main characters “mallrats” sells them short. Perhaps the title was intended as another 90’s reference (hey, Brodie), but it pigeonholes in a way that does the book a disservice.
This is because Night of the Mallrats is really, really fun. Only a person who grew up in the 90’s–with all its glory and better music–could have painted this era with so many vibrant, random details from that era. (Omg, remember Glamour Shots? And how Structure was always next to Express?). Torres clearly racked the vestiges of her memory to pull out the most obscure 90’s pop culture references, and for those of us within her generation–or others who appreciate the superiority or elements of the 90’s–these flashbacks are delightful. (Maaaaybe there’s a bit of overkill–no opportunity for a reference drop is lost–but to each their own on that point).
In Night of the Mallrats, which has multiple narrators, Colleen is lured back to the mall by one of her former best friends. Back in the day, Colleen was part of her school’s most popular group. They each fit somewhat of a stereotype: Colleen, the wise-cracking artist; Beth, sweetheart and homecoming queen; Missy, the type-A overachiever; Tim, the football star with a secret; Kevin, the musician; and Andy, the class clown.
But, one night during the holiday season, Beth’s foreign exchange student boyfriend had been found slashed to bits in the mall fountain and she disappeared without a trace. The crime was never solved; and, understandably, the group never fully recovered from the tragedy. Colleen moved away and lost contact with the remaining four until she’s convinced by Kevin to return to Beechnut Mall before its demolition. Once there, she’s told to abandon her electronics and other metal objects, where she finds herself falling through a wormhole located in the mall fountain to the night of Beth’s death–all the way back to 1994.
Colleen’s friends share that they’d earlier discovered this time-travel opportunity, and they want her help in using it to find what happened to Beth. There’s only one big rule, which is that they can’t touch anyone from 1994. If they do, they’ll vanish back to 2026 and that’s the end of their night in 1994.
The book bounces amongst a few perspectives and points in time. Colleen doesn’t remember anything of that night, having blocked out the trauma, and we witness as she relives the fateful hours. There’s Chief Haskell, Tim’s former best friend and Missy’s brother, who is working the old case with Tim’s help shortly before the group descends through the fountain. And there’s Beth from 1994, who seems to have the perfect life but suffers from a toxic family dynamic. (There are a few others, but these are the primary).
The structure of the narrative is such that we have to pay attention; and we also have to keep our characters straight. (Andy is easy to forget). So long as we can do that, the unfolding of the mystery is a page-turning experience that always us, also, to time travel back to the 1990’s while following the clues to the resolution. Torres throws in a few red herrings to keep us on our toes, and the scenes between Chief Haskell and Tim are both comic and bittersweet. The supernatural explanation leaves something to be desired, but it’s fine because it doesn’t matter too much in the context of the story as a whole.
Night of the Mallrats is a must-read for mystery readers who appreciate the nostalgia of the 90’s. It’s the best use of a mall in ages, and Torres uses it as her playground.
