Dead Girls Walking

To find her murdered mother’s corpse, teenage Temple Baker goes undercover as a counselor at a queer horror-themed summer camp whose grounds once belonged to her father, the notorious North Point Killer. As she attempts to fit in with her peers, she searches for her mother’s body under cover of nightfall. Then a teen girl is found dead in the wilderness, murdered in the same fashion as the victims of her incarcerated father. The event calls into question everything Temple thought she knew. Was this a copycat crime, or could someone other than her father be the North Point Killer? Striking up an unlikely friendship with true crime–obsessed campers Cali and Yaya, Temple must protect the other girls while uncovering the truth. Though chaotic pacing occasionally muddles narrative focus, Ellis, in a thrilling debut, admirably juggles the novel’s large ensemble cast; Temple’s prickly personality serves as a foil through which the author highlights heartening character relationships, and punchy horror-centric banter adds verve to this gruesome slasher. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)