TRESPASS AGAINST US

Ghost hunters seek to solve a decades-old mystery in this compelling horror debut.

Two years ago, the foursome behind the “Ghost Hawks” YouTube channel—Riley Fox, Evelyn Cho, Colton Pierce, and Ethan Hale—spent the night at a Catholic reform school with the goal of finding out what happened to the five students and one priest who mysteriously disappeared from Saint Dominic Savio’s School for Troubled Youths over winter break in 1982. Though four young YouTubers entered the building to investigate that night, only three left. Two years later, the remaining Ghost Hawks are offered a chance to return to Dominic House with Jordan Jones, the woman behind the popular Netflix ghost-hunting series Spirit Seekers, to film their experience. Though Jordan is offering them monetary compensation, 18-year-old Riley’s primary reason for acquiescing is to figure out what happened to their missing friend, his boyfriend, Ethan. The book’s format, which switches between the events of two years ago and the present day, lends an urgency to the story; readers will likely not want to put it down. Its plot-driven nature, though, leaves little room for character development, other than that of bad boy Colton, who’s been ostracized for selling out his friends to the tabloids. Most characters read white; Evelyn’s name signals Korean heritage, and Jordan is cued Black.

A genuinely creepy ghost story that delves into religious trauma.