AND DON'T LOOK BACK

Harlow Ford has been running her whole life, and she’s not going to do it anymore.

Seventeen-year-old Harlow and her mom, Cora, have been hiding from an unknown enemy and her mom’s secret history for years. During their latest middle-of-the-night escape, Cora is fatally injured in a tragic car accident, but before she dies, she tells Harlow to go find a safety deposit box at a bank in a nearby town. Harlow discovers that it contains money, the deed to a house, pictures of a teenage Cora with two girls (“all so alike: black curls and coils, light brown skin gleaming”), and a newspaper article about a missing white woman from Crescent Ridge, Washington, who seems to be the grandmother Harlow never knew about. Left with more questions than ever, Harlow heads to Crescent Ridge, which is also the location of Severn House, the place listed on the deed. There she meets (and crushes on) a pretty girl named Sloane, who informs her that the deserted place in the woods is rumored to be haunted. This thriller makes the most of its classic genre elements. In the third-person narration, Harlow has a charmingly authentic and angsty voice that invites readers along for the ride, while chapters labeled “before” offer peeks into Cora’s past. The twists and turns, along with the strong pacing, make for an absorbing read.

A gripping thriller that doesn’t reveal its secrets until the very end.