The Getaway

High school junior Jermaine “Jay” Butler lives year-round at walled, world-famous Karloff Country Resort. He spends his days attending classes at the prestigious Karloff Academy, working shifts at mega-popular theme park Enchantria, and hanging with his crew, which includes Connie, an elite restaurant chef’s Black daughter; Zeke, Black son of a resort engineer; and biracial (Black and white) Seychelle, sole heir to the vast Karloff fortune. Jay is grateful for his spot within Karloff Country’s wealthy community as the U.S. suffers national meat shortages, raging West Coast fires, East Coast flooding, and natural disasters battering Middle America. But when Connie and her family disappear overnight, it’s just the beginning of a series of ominous incidents. As Jay and his crew uncover haunting truths about their seemingly utopian getaway, they must contend with the knowledge of how precarious their lives really are, and work together to survive the deadly whims of the board of trustees who run the resort. Told through the teens’ alternating perspectives, Giles’s (Spin) harrowing dystopian novel combines an exploration of capitalistic greed and systemic racism and oppression with gripping psychological horror, resulting in a read that is guaranteed to terrify. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jamie Weiss Chilton, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)