The Retreat

This captivating thriller from Smith (Follow Me Down) finds former child star Katie Manning, whose long-running hit TV series ended when she was 15, now 27, “the age when celebrities died from their bad habits.” She shares her New York townhouse with her brother and his herbal tea–drinking, yoga practicing fiancée, Ellie Rose, whose lifestyle is an anathema to the hard-drinking party animal that Katie has become. In order to appease her brother, while still hoping to wreck his engagement, Katie agrees to attend a wellness retreat with Ellie, but insists on taking her two old college friends along. When a guest at the retreat vanishes, and Katie wakes up next to a bloody knife, the novel blossoms with layers of subterfuge, murky motives and contiguous crimes. Who will make it through the wellness retreat alive? With each new tantalizing detail that Smith surreptitiously reveals about the characters, the reader’s perception of them changes. Prose that zings with amusing metaphors and wry wit drives this exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency. (Aug.)