Disappearance at Devil’s Rock

Intense emotions of fear and alienation carve direct paths to the supernatural in this tightly plotted and atmospheric novel. Young Tommy’s disappearance in Borderland State Park, Mass., near haunted Devil’s Rock, throws his mother, Elizabeth Sanderson, into a maelstrom of guilt. Townsfolk start seeing shadows at their windows, and Tommy’s friends Josh and Luis grow anxious, reluctant to discuss the night when he vanished. Meanwhile, Elizabeth encounters Tommy’s ghost in her bedroom and receives mysterious notebook pages that reveal sinister connections among Tommy’s father’s death, a stranger named Arnold who Tommy met at Devil’s Rock, and a macabre folk tale. Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts) uses concise prose and smooth storytelling to evoke raw emotion in this tale of love, loss, and terror. Sympathetic characters and heartbreaking struggles replace genre stereotypes and tropes. The menacing atmosphere captures small-town isolation and hopelessness. This stunning and tantalizing work of suggestive horror is sure to please admirers of Stephen King and Peter Straub. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell Literary Management. (June)