May 27, 2024
Debut author Crowley combines Stephen King’s Pet Sematary with Courtney Summers’s Sadie in this supernatural thriller. When high schooler Annie Lane wakes up on Resurrection Peak—a location rumored to raise the dead—she has no idea how she got there. She’s soon found by the ghosts of five other teens, who inform her that the legend of Resurrection Peak is true, and that she’s been brought back from the dead. With their help, Annie digs into the events surrounding her death and contends with emotional fallout brought about by memories from her life before—the life she lived with her neglectful mother in the small town of Hagley, which harbors a culture of toxic misogyny. After learning that her best friend’s life (and death) is inextricably tied to hers, Annie’s search for answers turns into a quest for vengeance, aided by Sam, one of the ghosts of Resurrection Peak, who has a penchant for smoking and 1950s slang. Sardonic first-person narration by rough-around-the-edges Annie is further enhanced by snappy repartee, both of which elevate a plot that covers well-trod ground to a surprising and earned conclusion. Annie reads as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Larissa Melo Pienkowski, Jill Grinberg Literary.