THE VISITORS

A lingering spirit is set free.

The old Hollow Pines Plantation is haunted. Not just by the memories of brutal landowners and the enslaved people they tormented, but also by their actual ghosts. One such ghost doesn’t remember who he is or why he’s lingering, but when three living middle schoolers show up, trying to solve a 50-year-old mystery, connection and adventure ensue. Howard’s fourth novel is ambitious in form and quite successful in that regard; the perspective shifts between the first-person ghost in the present day and a third-person story about a White boy named Will Perkins, bullied for his same-sex attraction by his father, former best friend, and other classmates. There’s a bit of mystery about who the narrator is as well as an interesting—and heartbreaking—twist. Less convincing are the contemporary youth, who come off more as textbook examples of “kids today” than vital presences. The brown-skinned trans girl Maya especially seems more like a tool than a character; her experiences of transphobia (contrasted with Will’s encounters with homophobia) present a somewhat bleak view. However, these depressing elements are balanced by the mostly graceful teaching of history, the innovative use of perspective, and the truly creepy haunting elements.

An atmospheric reckoning with the past and present, heavy but rewarding.