Red Rabbit Ghost

A young man lured back to his North Carolina hometown to learn the true circumstances of a family tragedy becomes ensnared in a larger web of weird events in Julian’s auspicious debut. Eighteen years before the start of the book, Jesse Calloway, age two, was found on the banks of the Miskwa River in Blacknot beside the decomposing corpse of his mother, Connie. Now Jesse receives a series of cryptic messages on social media from someone who goes by “Cat” and claims to have documents pertaining to the mother he never knew. He returns home from college hoping to learn more and crosses paths with Alice Catherine, a psychologically troubled young woman whose history of family loss similar to his own leaves little doubt as to “Cat’s” true identity. Central to both Jesse’s and Alice’s interests is the Night House, an abandoned local mansion of dark repute where time seems to stand still and ghostly events crucial to understanding the past endlessly repeat themselves. Though Julian doesn’t tie up all of the tale’s loose ends, her story is borne along by well-shaded characters, whose complex inner lives abound with mysteries that can’t all be easily solved. The result is a chilling dark fantasy that readers will savor. (July)