The Valley and the Flood

The cocreator of the audio drama serial The Bridge Podcast offers an eerie tale that begins with an interrupted road trip. On her way home to San Diego from Las Vegas, teenager Rose Colter’s car breaks down in the middle of the desert. Then she hears a radio broadcast—“Rose, are you there?”—the final voicemail she received from her best friend, Gaby Summer, who was killed nearly a year prior to the book’s start. Sighting a blinking radio tower in the distance, Rose heads for it on foot and ends up in Lotus Valley, a village populated by prophets, “strange people,” and shadowy creatures “flitting in and out of the gaps in time.” While awaiting her car’s repair, Rose learns two things: Lotus Valley’s denizens have been expecting her arrival, and according to prophecy, she brings a flood that will destroy the area. Mahoney meshes flashbacks and the present intricately and effectively, resulting in two equally dramatic narratives: Rose’s situation, and the traumas she has experienced since the night Gaby was killed. Part allegory, part psychological thriller, this suspenseful debut is a moving study of grief, regret, and PTSD. Ages 12–up. [em]Agent: Hannah Fergesen, KT Literary. (Feb.) [/em]