THREE QUARTERS DEAD

Self-described follower Kerry (“I was always a step behind. I lived back there”) finds herself in over her head when she is unexpectedly adopted by the three coolest girls in school.

The power trio, headed by the Machiavellian Tanya, who has the mysterious ability to slow time, proceed to use Kerry as their patsy until their untimely deaths in a car accident. Kerry is devastated—until she receives a text from Beyond instructing her to meet the resurrected crew for a night of pre-prom partying. But when she realizes dead Tanya is bent on eliminating the one boy who dared turn her down, the serial follower must take charge in order to save Prom Night. This staccato-sentenced chiller is not so much a ghost story as it is a smart, sly treatise on friendship, bullying and the timeless power of high-school hierarchies. Peck’s supernatural worldbuilding is a bit muddy, but when he hits his stride, his sonorous language chills; his real-life depictions of adolescent egotism and back-stabbing cruelty are spot-on.

Probably more for fans of Cecily Von Ziegesar than Lois Duncan.