Synopsis

Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to ten while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother—he was gone and the ongoing search efforts turned up no clues.

As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail, and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years.

And now after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming. Because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared. If the ghosts of Fell don’t get to them first.

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Review

This thriller combines the supernatural, creating a new dynamic in Fell, New York.

I have read several other books by this author, and I didn’t realize it until this book, but they are all set in the same area. There are references to the other novels and the crimes within, but it does not go into deep detail.

Three siblings seem to remember a younger sibling who disappeared years ago. After that event, they all scattered across the country, and a call brings them back to Fell to uncover the truth about him and what happened.

The book moves at a slower pace, which was good and bad. There were times when I wanted things to move more quickly, but at other times, it was appropriate for the moment. The reader has to stick with the story to learn how it all fits together, but even then, we are still left without answers regarding the younger brother. I don’t feel like the matter was fully resolved, and I still have questions about Ben.

I enjoyed the story from different points of view. Hearing things from Vail, Dodie, and Violet’s perspectives rounds out the story. They each have their own battles they are fighting, but the epilogue helps wrap it up for each of them, at least to a degree.

I do like some of the author’s other books better, but this was still enjoyable. We give it 3 1/2 paws up.

About the Author

Simone St. James is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases, The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls and The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two RITA awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. She wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school, and spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. She lives outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat.

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