Ghost Flower

Jaffe (Rosebush) tends to focus on the interior lives of her protagonists, rather than the external events of the plot, for the pacing in her thrillers. It works with an honest character, drawing readers in as emotions unfold and deeply held fears are realized. But with an unreliable narrator like Eve Brightman/Aurora Silverton, readers are warned from the start to withhold trust. Without the page-turning tension of either emotional involvement or event, what’s left is a litany of wealth and spite. Living in squalor, Eve agrees to an impersonation—she will pretend to be Aurora, a cousin of Bain and Bridgette Silverton who has been missing for three years, in return for a cut of Aurora’s inheritance, due when she turns 18 in three months. Aurora is believed to have run away when her best friend Liza committed suicide, but no one really knows. Upon “Aurora’s” dramatic return, the dire warnings of a hired medium set up the haunting that follows, with Aurora being visited by Liza’s ghost, and the interdependence of money and fraud continues to the end. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)