“AND this is how you open your eyes, slowly, enjoying the movement of the train, even though you have no clue where you’re going.” This is the opening line of Never Tell Anyone Your Name (Hope Road Publishing, £8.99), a gripping novel for young adults. 

The story, skilfully translated by Claire Storey, revolves around a 16-year-old boy from Montevideo, Uruguay, travelling on a train between France and Spain after visiting his mother in Bordeaux. As he reaches Irun station in the Basque Country to catch a train to Madrid, where his father awaits him, he realises there's a mistake with his ticket booking. As a result, he has to wait until midnight to catch the next train.

Since he doesn't have much money, he decides to kill time by wandering around Irun. He carries a copy of Dracula, which he’s currently reading, in his backpack. However, an unexpected encounter at a local church turns the course of the story into a fast-paced tale of dark forces, teenage anxieties and desires, with a twist of vampire echoes.