HOLLY HORROR

In a small, eerie Massachusetts town, a mystery that’s been only partially solved begs to be untangled.

Two weeks ago, Evie Archer discovered a place called the Shadow Land, a dark underworld where restless spirits reside. Though she and her brother, Stan, escaped and returned safely to their family, Evie’s crush, Desmond King, did not. While everyone else accepts his probable death, Evie won’t accept that he’s really dead. Whatever has been unleashed is affecting other people in town, and a dark hypnosis begins to spread. Evie searches for the notes her ghostly friend, Holly, mentioned, and with the help of (living) friends Tina Sànchez, who’s Puerto Rican, and Sai Rockwell, an Indian and white boy from England, she begins to piece together a mystery stretching back generations that will lead her to answers about Desmond’s fate, as well as the real source of the Shadow Land’s darkness. This unsettling, well-paced story unfolds with enough twists and unpredictability to keep even seasoned horror readers rapt. The characters are entertaining and distinctively drawn despite the plot-driven narrative. Multiple ghost stories, complex family dynamics surrounding Evie and Stan’s unreliable father, and a satisfying ending round out a fun, frightening winter holiday–season novel that’s perfect for fans of authors such as Kate Alice Marshall and Ginny Myers Sain. Evie’s family presents white; Desmond reads Black.

A page-turning sequel with a little bit of everything for teen horror fans.