Absent

Paige Wheeler died five months ago at her high school, and her ghost has been stuck there ever since. She hangs out with two other ghosts: Brooke, who died of a cocaine overdose in the girls’ bathroom a few months before Paige died, and Evan, who won’t reveal how and when he died. Confined to school grounds, the three deceased teenagers follow the lives of the living until a student suggests that Paige’s fall off the school’s roof was suicide. Paige is determined to preserve her eternal reputation and quash the rumor, and she discovers that when a person thinks about her, she can inhabit his or her body. She uses this ability to settle some old scores, and in the process uncovers the truth behind Brooke’s death, as well as her own. While Williams’s debut, The Space Between Trees, also revolved around untimely demise, her sophomore novel confronts the subject with incisive dark humor. The mystery of Paige’s death is a bit slow to unfold, but her sharp, poignant narration will keep readers engaged and entertained. Ages 14–up. Agent: Judy Heiblum, Sterling Lord Literistic. (May)