Five Books in Order

The Five series is Ann Dávila Cardinal's two-book YA horror story set in Puerto Rico. It begins with Five Midnights and continues in Category Five. Both books mix murder mysteries, local legends, family trouble, and supernatural danger, while keeping their focus on teens trying to make sense of what is happening around them.

In Five Midnights, Lupe Dávila arrives in Puerto Rico from Vermont to spend the summer with her father's family. She loves true crime, but her interest turns personal when a string of brutal deaths begins to touch people close to her. Lupe joins forces with Javier Utierre, a troubled teen with his own connection to the case, to work out who or what is hunting a group of former friends.

The monster at the heart of the first book grows from El Cuco, a figure from Puerto Rican and wider Latin American folklore. Cardinal uses that legend for genuine scares, but the story also asks what people pass down through families, what addiction can do to a community, and whether young people can break patterns set long before they were born.

Puerto Rico matters on every page. Lupe's relationship to the island is complicated, since she knows it as family home and summer destination but also feels like an outsider at times. The series makes room for food, language, neighborhoods, relatives, and the everyday humor of people who know one another well. It also does not ignore the harder realities that shape life there.

Category Five moves the action to Vieques after Hurricane Maria. Lupe, Javier, and their friend Marisol return when murders and a new supernatural threat begin to spread through an island still recovering from disaster. Empty properties and opportunistic developers add another layer of tension, making the setting part of the mystery rather than scenery behind it.

These are scary books, but they are not only about the scares.

The tone is fast, dark, and emotional, with a little romance and plenty of banter between characters who do not always get along. The mysteries give each novel momentum, while the larger thread follows young people facing the damage left by secrets, grief, addiction, and exploitation. Cardinal keeps the danger rooted in both folklore and real-world fears.

Start with Five Midnights. It introduces Lupe, Javier, their families, and the world of the series. Then read Category Five to catch up with familiar characters in a new case that expands the series' view of Puerto Rico and the threats gathering around them.