Dark Site

Bestseller Lee’s riveting third Sam Dryden novel (after 2015’s Signal) reads like an amped-up version of TV’s Stranger Things. In the small town of Brookings, Ore., Danica Ellis is attacked in a store by a man and a woman who are intent on abducting her. She escapes. Dryden, a former Special Forces operative, lives in Malibu, Calif., where he fixes up old houses. A man with a pistol attacks him, but he also escapes. Using his assailant’s cell phone, Sam learns that there’s another intended victim, a woman, who is in danger. Sam links up with the woman, Danica, and together they try to figure out who wants them and why. Flash back to 1989: Sam is 12 years old and recently moved to Ashland, Iowa. Sam meets another 12-year-old, Dani Ellis, and thus begins the fascinating story of the mystery of Ashland, which is in reality a secret military site. In an intriguing twist, Sam and Danica, as adults, have no memory of having known each other in 1989. This is a compulsive, nail-biting, stay-up-all-night thriller. Agent: Janet Reid, New Leaf Literary. (May)