House of Thorns

Five years ago, Lia Peartree and her family fled from their home, Brier Hall, after enduring months of escalating paranormal activity and psychological terror. In the ensuing chaos, her older sister Avery vanished without a trace. Now 18, Lia feels burdened by the time she’s spent contending with whispered rumors and dead-end investigations regarding Avery’s whereabouts, as well as by her complicated relationship with her other older sister Ali, who is navigating substance dependency. When Ali returns to Brier Hall in a last-ditch effort to find Avery, Lia follows, refusing to lose a second sister. Reconnecting with her childhood best friend and crush, 18-year-old Rafferty Pierce, Lia sets out to save Ali and, in confronting the house that destroyed her family, discovers that the past is not quite as buried as it seems. Strychacz (Starling) wields poetic prose to weave an atmosphere of creeping horror throughout the alternating first-person-present introspection and second-person flashback chapters. While characters are unevenly developed and some scares fail to land, Strychacz delivers a solid gothic horror that explores the lingering effects of trauma and the lasting power of family bonds. The Peartrees and Raff cue as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Taylor Martindale Kean, Full Circle Literary. (Aug.)