THE UNDERWOOD TAPES

A grieving teen travels to the small town her late mother was from in this mystery that’s shot through with strands of speculative fiction.

Since the accident six months earlier that killed her mom and seriously injured her, 18-year-old Grace Crain has been nursing scars, both literal and figurative. Spending the summer at her uncle Aaron’s in Hermitage, Florida, appeals in part because her mother never went back to her hometown, so it doesn’t hold painful memories of her for Grace. However, she’s unprepared for how many people she’s never met seem to be aware of her. Grace gets to know first cousin Lara and third cousin Griffin, with whom she’s working at the municipal historical society. But when she’s assigned to transcribe cassette tapes recorded in the early 1990s by Jake Underwood, a boy who was around her age, Grace discovers something startling: She can communicate with Jake through the tapes—and in the process, she learns that the sleepy town is harboring many secrets. The teens’ ability to communicate across time simply exists with no real explanation. The engaging mystery surrounding a natural disaster and a tragic death propels the story toward its distinctly understated ending, but the real focus is on the friendship Grace forms with Jake. Grace presents white; there’s some racial diversity among the secondary characters, including Lara, who has “dark tan” skin from her mom.

An intriguing blend of thrilling and more quiet and contemplative elements.