A POCKET FULL OF POSIES

A fresh start turns into a living nightmare when Parker is the first to fall in a high-stakes game of Ring Around the Rosie.

At first, an unexpected and sudden move away from Washington, D.C., to a new town seems like exactly the break Parker needs to escape the consequences of her own bad decisions. But from the moment she arrives in Coronation, Massachusetts, and notices a strange, cloying scent in the air, it seems as if something sinister is brewing beneath the idyllic, charming surface of the town. As she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Rosamund, the saintlike figure who saved the town’s original settlers, she receives a warning from a mysterious boy that she doesn’t understand until it’s too late—and she again finds herself in the center of a bad situation. This time, though, she is the one who has been betrayed, and she may not escape with her life. This enjoyable if not particularly groundbreaking story contains many of the hallmarks of good campy horror—too-convenient plot points, shallow characterization, forewarned betrayal—and leans heavily on visceral descriptions and well-crafted suspense rather than deeply resonant characters. More seasoned fans of the genre may find things to be a bit too formulaic, but newer horror readers and those likely to be intimidated by longer, denser works should find much entertainment here. Main characters default to White.

A creepy premise, a strong hook, and a quickly moving plot will capture less-critical readers.