The Lost Night

It’s 2009, at the height of the recession, and Lindsay Bach, the narrator of Bartz’s accomplished debut, and her friends hang out in the hipster haven of the Calhoun Lofts in Bushwick, Brooklyn, living in a haze of concerts, alcohol, and drugs. Late one August night, Edie Iredale, the attention-seeking leader of the group and Lindsay’s best friend, is found dead with a gun in her right hand and a short suicide note open on her computer. Ten years later, Lindsay accepts Edie’s suicide as a devastating part of her past, but when she reconnects with some of her old friends, she discovers that her memory of that fatal night is mysteriously missing. Lindsay begins calling everyone who was at Calhoun that night, digging through old email chains, stalking Facebook accounts, and watching camcorder videos, but what she finds doesn’t bode well for her. As the story hurtles toward its dramatic conclusion, Lindsay realizes she can’t trust anyone, especially not herself. Fans of psychological thrillers will want to see more from this talented newcomer. Author tour. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM. (Feb.)